McGrath a perfect example of what can be achieved

A feature of this year’s Allianz Hurling League has been the number of exceptionally talented youngsters coming through and having a real impact.

Several of them will be in action this weekend, such as Niall Burke (Galway) and Danny Sutcliffe (Dublin) this afternoon in the Division 1A relegation final replay in Portlaoise, a host of youngsters for Clare as they face Kilkenny, who themselves have Willie Phelan and Cillian Buckley bursting to impress Brian Cody, in the first of tomorrow’s league semi-finals in Thurles .

Then you look at Cork, who face Tipperary in the second of tomorrow’s semi-finals double-header, Jimmy Barry-Murphy has a new generation of kids with multi-talented midfielder Darren Sweetnam, Conor Lehane, Jamie Coughlan and Damien Cahalane all still U21.