Leinster U21 Hurling Final

ft9

Tonight, Portlaoise. Live on TG4 From 7.15

Kilkenny should win this one comfortably, (like the seniors). :eek:
Laois should be on a high after knocking out Dublin.

I'll call a KK victory by 12pts +, and the 3 full forward line to grab a goal, Walsh, Power, Aylward.
KK Team


Dylan Walsh (Thomastown)
Jason Corcoran (John Lockes)
Willie Phelan (Dunnamaggin)
Brian Kennedy (St. Lachtains)
Luke Harney (Kilmacow)
Richie Doyle (Barrow Rangers)
Joe Lyng (Rower/Inistioge)
Geoff Brennan (St.Patricks)
Ollie Walsh (Dicksboro)
Kevin Kelly (St. Patricks) (Capt.)
Padraig Walsh (Tullaroan)
Cillian Buckley (Dicksboro)
Walter Walsh (Tullogher/Rosbercon)
John Power (Carrickshock)
Ger Aylward (Glenmore)

MrJoeSoap

Looking forward to seeing this, decent evening for it.

Kerrydude1981

Lightening start by the young Cats up 2-7 to 2 points 13 minutes gone

ft9

Aylward and power have a goal each after 10 mins. Just need Walsh to get one now.

I_smell_fear

Its up to the Kilkenny forwards how much they feel like winning this by

MrJoeSoap

Backed Kilkenny by 7-9 points and Over 3.5 goals here. First one looked dead in the water after about 3 minutes. Second one could still happen.

UpTheSlashers

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Backed Kilkenny by 7-9 points and Over 3.5 goals here. First one looked dead in the water after about 3 minutes. Second one could still happen.

Looking likely now. Good call.

MrJoeSoap

Referee seems to be doing his very best to give Laois a chance, some extremely soft calls in their favour.

adrian522

Anyone else find it confusing on twitter #gaa also refers to us TV show good morning America?

MrJoeSoap

adrian522 wrote: »

Anyone else find it confusing on twitter #gaa also refers to us TV show good morning America?

Yeah, it's really annoying. They launched "Good Afternoon America" on ABC on Monday this week. Apparently it is only around for 9 weeks, but the Championship will be over then too...

adrian522

They also have the twitter handle @gaa. I thought the gaa would have had that registered

My first question after viewing that slaughter is, what on earth happened to Dublin this year?

Giving KK their credit they done their job but Laois were like they put out an u14 Tony Forristal side. Their full fwd didnt look too bad but the rest were absolutely awful. KK had acres of space to take their goals, the laois players couldnt rise a ball or stop a ball and zilch intensity. Stupid needless fouling. KK received more competitive challenges this year id say. This result wont do them any favours ahead of meeting Galway next month.

ft9

4-24 - 1-13. Kilkenny win by 20 points.

MrJoeSoap

Deleted User wrote: »

My first question after viewing that slaughter is, what on earth happened to Dublin this year?

Giving KK their credit they done their job but Laois were like they put out an u14 Tony Forristal side. Their full fwd didnt look too bad but the rest were absolutely awful. KK had acres of space to take their goals, the laois players couldnt rise a ball or stop a ball and zilch intensity. Stupid needless fouling. KK received more competitive challenges this year id say. This result wont do them any favours ahead of meeting Galway next month.

Full forward was Neil Foyle, who got the goal against Dublin in the Senior championship this year. Maher was a senior also, possibly a couple more. Hard to explain the Dublin defeat after seeing this mauling.

Says it all about this final when posters talked about the GAA's twitter name during the game and quite frankly who would blame ye. Only 5 Laois players overage next year in fairness but i think Willie Hyland's words have reverberated tonight. Manager is currently talking about the fact that Laois only start training in February. Kilkenny had 2 challenges out of the way by then (Tipp in Ballyragget and ITCarlow in the IT's pitch in Carlow)

bruschi

Deleted User wrote: »

Says it all about this final when posters talked about the GAA's twitter name during the game and quite frankly who would blame ye. Only 5 Laois players overage next year in fairness but i think Willie Hyland's words have reverberated tonight. Manager is currently talking about the fact that Laois only start training in February. Kilkenny had 2 challenges out of the way by then (Tipp in Ballyragget and ITCarlow in the IT's pitch in Carlow)

Kilkenny play their U21 team in the Walsh cup too dont they? And their intermediate team is mostly made up of U21 players with fringe senior panelists.

bruschi

bruschi wrote: »

Kilkenny play their U21 team in the Walsh cup too dont they? And their intermediate team is mostly made up of U21 players with fringe senior panelists.

Wow id even forgotten about that also. I suppose tonight is a great learning curve for Laois in a roundabout way but it will only be beneficial if the county board look at it and decide to pump money and effort into giving their lads the best possible chance for next year. if they continue to bury their head in the sand then laois are on a hiding to nothing.

Pride Fighter

Good news for Laois that only 5 of their players are overage next year. Hopefully they can build on today. Dublin were getting beatings like that 10 years ago at underage, but turned it around by building for the future year on year. At underage, the fear factor is no longer there for KK. Hopefully the same can be said of Laois in a few years.

Pride Fighter

Pride Fighter wrote: »

Good news for Laois that only 5 of their players are overage next year. Hopefully they can build on today. Dublin were getting beatings like that 10 years ago at underage, but turned it around by building for the future year on year. At underage, the fear factor is no longer there for KK. Hopefully the same can be said of Laois in a few years.

From Dublin's point of view it could just be a case of having too many inexperienced players in their first year of u21 because the infrastructure is fairly positive up there. Maybe also it was an off day or perhaps they took Laois too lightly.

Perhaps the story is the same for Laois but then you hear cases of poor quality sliothars being used and only starting back training late in the year you'd have to wonder.

premierstone

Taking the two results and performances since into account John Henderson is going to have some serious questions to answer to the DCC.

DoctaDee

premierstone wrote: »

Taking the two results and performances since into account John Henderson is going to have some serious questions to answer to the DCC.

I'm not quite sure of the exact chain of events - but McEvoys move up to the senior team left a void in the U21 set up - only filled by Henderson in Feb. The strange thing about Henderson's musings on taking over a team that had back to back Leinster and an AI Final behind them, was that winning wasn't everything, that he saw the U21's as a conveyor to the senior team. His own hurling background was never in question but his coaching of Cuala and Wicklow didn't light too many fires. We can give Laois all the plaudits they deserved on the day, but it was a dire result - a Dublin team with a months training under their belt should've accounted for them by 5 - 10 points.

locked

this kilkenny team is good but wont beat galway in a semi final. galway team is exceptional.

adrian522

locked wrote: »

this kilkenny team is good but wont beat galway in a semi final. galway team is exceptional.

Strange comment since Galway have played precisely no-one this year.


Current odds:

KK 15/8
Galway 2/1
Clare 11/4
Limerick 11/2
Tipp 9/1
Waterford 14/1

locked

galway beat clare that hammered kilkenny in a challenge. all the u21s on senior panel, lot of u21s from last years team. i reckon galway will win.

adrian522

They beat a team that beat Kilkenny in a challenge therefore they are a better team and will therefore beat Kilkenny, great logic there.

I think we'll just have to wait and see.

What do you mean "all the U21's on senior panel"?

Are all the Galway U-21's on the senior panel? That sounds ridiculous to be honest.

willietherock

DoctaDee wrote: »

I'm not quite sure of the exact chain of events - but McEvoys move up to the senior team left a void in the U21 set up - only filled by Henderson in Feb. The strange thing about Henderson's musings on taking over a team that had back to back Leinster and an AI Final behind them, was that winning wasn't everything, that he saw the U21's as a conveyor to the senior team. His own hurling background was never in question but his coaching of Cuala and Wicklow didn't light too many fires. We can give Laois all the plaudits they deserved on the day, but it was a dire result - a Dublin team with a months training under their belt should've accounted for them by 5 - 10 points.

Agent Henderson return to base. You have performed your duty with distinction.
KK Board.

DoctaDee

willietherock wrote: »

Agent Henderson return to base. You have performed your duty with distinction.
KK Board.

LMAO ... away withcha !! .. funnily enough he was very understated in his comments about last years Leinster title .. basically Wexford did the hard work for us beating da Cats and an AI semi final against Antrim wasn't exactly the stuff of legend

locked

just wait.

cgpg5

adrian522 wrote: »

They beat a team that beat Kilkenny in a challenge therefore they are a better team and will therefore beat Kilkenny, great logic there.

I think we'll just have to wait and see.

What do you mean "all the U21's on senior panel"?

Are all the Galway U-21's on the senior panel? That sounds ridiculous to be honest.

This is probably Galway's best ever under 21 team and I'm not exaggerating. All of Galway's expected starting 15 in under 21 are indeed on the senior panel with the exception of Daithi Burke who was asked to play senior but didn't due to duel commitments. In fact Jamie Ryan, Richie Cummins, Shane Maloney and Donie Fox who probably won't even start are also on the senior panel. So that's 18 by my counts.

Most of last year's winners are underage again this year and this under 21 team won the minor convincingly in 09 (this exact age group) beating Kilkenny. It is an absolutely incredible team

adrian522

Well we will just have to wait and see I guess.

Kilkenny won the minor in 2008 featuring a lot of the same players and the difference in 2009 was only 4 points.

cgpg5

locked wrote: »

this kilkenny team is good but wont beat galway in a semi final. galway team is exceptional.

Exactly. At minor level Mattie Murphy said that this exact team were the best minor team ever in galway and they went and won the AI convincingly. Cunningham has a huge amount of them in the senior panel (he's also in charge of the under 21s!). Players like Niall Burke, Johnny Coen, James Regan, Conor Cooney, David Glennon, Johnny Glynn and Tadhg haran are outstanding at senior level never mind underrage! It says it all that lads that will be sitting on the bench for the under 21's are in the senior panel!

premierstone

Mattie Murphy has said every single year that he's current minors are the best he has ever had, he is a spoofer tbh and he has said that this years are the best he has ever had aswell :rolleyes:

Winning the minor 3 years previously is not really a good indicator infact only 3 of the last 10 winners at U-21 had won the minor 3 years previous, thats a 70% failure rate btw.

And my recollection of 2009 was it wasnt quite as convincing and emphatic as is been portrayed here, a very flattering 7 point win over a Waterford team that froze a little and a 4 point win over KK.

adrian522

cgpg5 wrote: »

Exactly. At minor level Mattie Murphy said that this exact team were the best minor team ever in galway and they went and won the AI convincingly. Cunningham has a huge amount of them in the senior panel (he's also in charge of the under 21s!). Players like Niall Burke, Johnny Coen, James Regan, Conor Cooney, David Glennon, Johnny Glynn and Tadhg haran are outstanding at senior level never mind underrage! It says it all that lads that will be sitting on the bench for the under 21's are in the senior panel!

They won the AI by 4 points. Maybe convincing but that was a good Kilkenny team too and so is this a good Kilkenny U-21 team. Clare also have a great U-21 team this year.

It's a bit presumptuous (IMO) to say that Kilkenny won't beat Galway on the basis of what happened at minor 3 years ago and what the temas did against Clare.

The last bit says more about the standards of the senior team than it does about the U-21 if guys are warming the bench for the U21's yet are on the senior panel.

Martin567

A question for somebody from Galway who might know.

Galway beat Kilkenny in the 2009 Minor All Ireland. Obviously quite a few of those Kilkenny players are on the current U21 team. Kilkenny defeated Galway by about 20 points in the Minor semi final in 2010 and went on to narrowly beat Clare in the final.

More than half of this year's Kilkenny U21 team were on the minor team in 2010. What is the situation regarding Galway and the minors of 2010 so easily beaten by Kilkenny? How many of those are on the current U21 team? If very few, I would have to assume this year's U21s are almost all in their final year at this grade.

willietherock

cgpg5 wrote: »

Exactly. At minor level Mattie Murphy said that this exact team were the best minor team ever in galway and they went and won the AI convincingly. Cunningham has a huge amount of them in the senior panel (he's also in charge of the under 21s!). Players like Niall Burke, Johnny Coen, James Regan, Conor Cooney, David Glennon, Johnny Glynn and Tadhg haran are outstanding at senior level never mind underrage! It says it all that lads that will be sitting on the bench for the under 21's are in the senior panel!

In fairness Mattie Murphy is an absolute legend at that level and can turn a v avg bunch into title contenders most yrs. As for this yrs Galway U21's having a lot involved with senior can be a disadvantage. Niall Burke, after five minutes, and Conor Cooney were v poor v KK on Sunday. Regan and Haran poor when the came on. Defensively Galway won't be strong. Daithi Burke was a class minor fullback abd will be interesting to see if he's trained on. KK are a v strong outfit and will be justifible favourites.

Side I've seen mentioned
1. Jamie Ryan
2. Johnny Coen
3. Daithi Burke
4. Mark Horan
5. Joseph Cooney
6. Brian Flaherty
7. Jason Grealish
8. Donie Fox
9. Padraig Brehony
10. Johnathon Glynn
11. Niall Burke
12. Tadhg Haran
13. Conor Cooney
14. James Regan
15. David Glennon

Galway minors meant to be hammering all round them again.

locked

add to that darragh burke centre back for st thomas and paul huban centre back for loughrea,, i think galway has a large pool of talent at this age, competition for places will be fierce with senior panelists left on the line.. it will be a good match because in fairness the kilkenny team is very good as well.

cgpg5

premierstone wrote: »

Mattie Murphy has said every single year that he's current minors are the best he has ever had, he is a spoofer tbh and he has said that this years are the best he has ever had aswell :rolleyes:

WIth respect I don't recall him ever saying that before. He said it after the QF aswell, it's not as if he said it after they won it.

Martin567 wrote: »

A question for somebody from Galway who might know.

Galway beat Kilkenny in the 2009 Minor All Ireland. Obviously quite a few of those Kilkenny players are on the current U21 team. Kilkenny defeated Galway by about 20 points in the Minor semi final in 2010 and went on to narrowly beat Clare in the final.

More than half of this year's Kilkenny U21 team were on the minor team in 2010. What is the situation regarding Galway and the minors of 2010 so easily beaten by Kilkenny? How many of those are on the current U21 team? If very few, I would have to assume this year's U21s are almost all in their final year at this grade.

That was a very, very flattering win and galway were right in touch till half time only for Kilkenny were so good at taking goals. But anyway my guess is only 5 players off that team will start for galway under 21's this year. They are Daithi (if he plays of course!), Paul Hoban, Padraig Breheny (minor last year), Johnny Glynn (minor last year) and Conor Cooney. All the rest are 1991's.

willietherock wrote: »

As for this yrs Galway U21's having a lot involved with senior can be a disadvantage. Niall Burke, after five minutes, and Conor Cooney were v poor v KK on Sunday. Regan and Haran poor when the came on. Defensively Galway won't be strong. Daithi Burke was a class minor fullback abd will be interesting to see if he's trained on. KK are a v strong outfit and will be justifible favourites.

Side I've seen mentioned
1. Jamie Ryan
2. Johnny Coen
3. Daithi Burke
4. Mark Horan
5. Joseph Cooney
6. Brian Flaherty
7. Jason Grealish
8. Donie Fox
9. Padraig Brehony
10. Johnathon Glynn
11. Niall Burke
12. Tadhg Haran
13. Conor Cooney
14. James Regan
15. David Glennon

Galway minors meant to be hammering all round them again.

They may have been poor enough but at least they're playing senior. They'll be top class at under 21 level as they were last year.

The team will be this prob: Flannery; Conor Burke, Daithi (if he plays), Hoban; Grealish/John Breheny, Flaherty, Joe Cooney; Coen (c), P. Breheny; Johnny Glynn, N. Burke, Tadhg Haran; Regan, Cooney, Glennon.

cgpg5

By the way I'm not putting down Kilkenny! They've a damn good team. Just think this Galway team is savage. Would I be correct in saying that about 11/12 starters are underage again next year? (I know Doyle and W.Walsh are overage). Could be way off, relying on memory from minor 2010