Kilkenny GAA Thread

People are wondering where these new Galway players have emerged from….check their record at minor in recent years

Rabbitte, Niland and Rory Burke have done very well in the league, seem to be ahead of Kilkenny players at the same age

Don't think any of them won a minor, and certainly not an u20 (yet) with Galway.

We know only too well in Galway that winning a minor All-Ireland doesnt guarantee senior success...

When we were winning minor and or under 21 every other year we were dominating in senior. When the underage success dried up so did our senior wins. It's not rocket science.We need to start winning minor / under 20 again before we can dream of being senior kingpins .Well done to St Kierans ,winners of a very entertaining final, reffed as hurling should be. Thought Kierans advantage in physique told in the final quarter and right down the middle, Dermody a really sharp keeper, Barcoe Raggett, Behan , O'Shea and Mahoney drove them onto victory. Athenry had three real stars in their forward line, 10, 12 and 14 all with wonderful skill and pace to burn. They are the type of forwards we are crying out for and only Fionn Mahoney of Kierans starting Kilkenny contingent seemed to have the same attacking quality. That said the young subs introduced Brian Hickey and Dan carroll looked the part. Three AIs in 4 years is a magnificent achievement by any standards.

We surely do. It's an age old problem for us and everyone knows it. Funnily enough, one of our new lads has won an All Ireland minor title. Cillian Trayers won a football all Ireland minor in 2022!

Yeah, he's 20. I don't think anyone expected them young lads to have performed as well as they have so far. I certainly didn't, and I don't know anyone who did. That being said, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and no pudding gets eaten in March. To me it looks like there are three teams who are taking the league fairly seriously, and that's Limerick, Cork, and Galway. Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipp just don't seem to be. No disrespect to Offaly but it was all about survival for them.

Congrats to Kierans on a great win yesterday, once again when the game was in the melting pot they stood up and powered home. Hopefully it'll be a massive lift to the U20 squad this year. They looked a really big physical team and hopefully some of that is down to work these players are doing in the U20 & U19 squads. I don't thnk any of the starters are eligible for minor (U17) this year but are any of the subs that came on minor this year? Looking at the U20 this year, whereas we'll probably be stronger in 2027, it is a great chance for Henry and these players to lay down a marker. We all know how much we need new player to break through and a good run this year will hopefully see a few more emerge in to the mix for places in with the seniors. There's always a bit of doom and gloom but I actually think there is a lot of talent in the county between the ages of 18 to 22, they just have to be nurtured the right way. I'd like to see a U20 team along the lines of:

Billy O'Sullivan,

Gerry Henderson, Rory Garrett, Darragh Vereker

David Barcoe, Jack Dollard, Louis Raggett

Sean Phelan, Diarmuid Behan

Ed Lauhoff, Ed McDermott, Greg Kelly

Patrick Lacey, Fionn O'Mahony, Colm Tracey

A few have said about the forwards possibly being the weakest part of the team, but that's a decent front 6 and would still have Jake Mullen, Anthony Clifford, Ruairi Sweeney, Cian Byrne, Ollie O'Donnovan in reserve. I'm not saying this will defintiely be the starting team but it shows that we have plenty of quality players at this level.

Well done to Kierans, great win in the end but never looked like losing it in the second half. Its a pity Geroid O'Shea is from Waterford. His 1-03 was huge. My U-20 team would be:

Billy O'Sullivan,

Gerry Henderson or Evan Murphy, Rory Garrett, Darragh Vereker

Jack Dollard, David Barcoe, Michael Rohan or Jim Conlon

Sean Bergin, Louis Raggett

Ed Lauhoff or Anthony Clifford, Ed McDermott, Ruairc Sweeney (free taker all year)

Greg Kelly, Fionn O'Mahony, Colm Tracey

Subs - Jake O'Doherty, Kevin Buggy, Eoin Brennan, Jake Mullen, Patrick Lacey, Josh Dowling, Bill McDermott, Ben Nevin, Bill O'Shea

Diarmuid Behan is not on the panel as is doing the leaving cert and there are 5/6 others not doing the U-19's for the same reason from what I was told. Ed Lauf was poor against Clare but hopefully that was a blip.

His pace would be the issue for me unless he’s playing a free role at 6

Jim Conlon is from Young Irelands, his father hurled with Bennettsbridge.

Is his father John Conlon ? (Congo) …. I hurled with him underage many years ago.

Where are Noah Minogue, James O'Neill and Robbie Doherty ? They were prominant Minor players.

I am not sure about Noah Minogue and James O'Neill but they are not on the U-20 panel, Robbie Doherty was injured until recently and is on the U-19 panel.

ye Congo was the man

There was also nine players living close enough to the city starting on the Kieran’s team and young O’Mahony was my man of the match scoring 1-4 from play.