Eight players to watch as minor stars return from long layoff
18 August 2019; Ruben Davitt of Galway during the Electric Ireland GAA Hurling All-Ireland Minor Championship Final match between Kilkenny and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
The layoff from competitive action varies hugely for tomorrow evening’s All-Ireland minor hurling semi-finalists and Ulster minor football finalists.
Derry and Monaghan contest the Ulster MFC decider (Healy Park, Omagh, 7.30pm) one week after their respective semi-final wins, whereas Limerick travel to Cusack Park, Ennis for the All-Ireland MHC semi-final having last played on December 20.
But the longest wait of all belongs to Galway, the Tribesmen finding themselves in the unbelievably strange position of playing their first game of the 2020 season on July 2, 2021.
The winners of Galway-Limerick (7.30pm start) meet Kilkenny or Offaly in the All-Ireland final, while Leinster champions Meath await the winners of the Ulster final in the All-Ireland semis.
Here are eight players to keep an eye out for across the two games.
Davitt is one of five members of the Galway starting team that began the county’s 2019 All-Ireland minor final win over Kilkenny. Some 22 months later, Davitt and the other four survivors certainly did not expect to be still lining out at minor level for their county.
The Oranmore-Maree clubman top-scored from play in the 2019 minor decider when hitting 1-2. He is named at centre-forward on this evening’s team.
Having lined out at centre-back during Limerick’s two Munster Championship outings in mid-December, Hurley is likely to be tasked with the job of picking up Davitt at Cusack Park. Highlighting the talent that is the Newcastle West teenager is the fact that he was centre-back on the 2019 Limerick minor team when still eligible for U16. What an exciting duel in prospect.
The Ballygar clubman is another one of the five survivors from the 2019 All-Ireland final starting team. Thomas started all four of Galway’s 2019 minor championship outings. He found the target in each of these games, amassing 2-6 from play in total. No more than Davitt, the full-forward will command plenty of attention from the Treaty defence.
Galway will know they must curtail the Treaty captain and half-forward if they are to reach a sixth All-Ireland minor final in nine years. The young Doon sharpshooter was in awesome form during Limerick’s successful Munster Championship campaign. He struck five points from play in the semi-final win over Cork and then followed this up with 2-3 from play in the extra-time provincial final win over Tipperary.
The dead-ball capabilities of the Derry centre-forward and captain has been a significant factor in the county reaching a fifth Ulster minor final in seven years. Downey was responsible for 0-5 of Derry’s 1-7 quarter-final total, with all bar one of his tally coming from the placed ball. In the recent 3-10 to 2-12 semi-final win over Tyrone, he converted a crucial second-half penalty to swing momentum in Derry’s favour. He finished the game with 2-2 to his name.
Fair to say that Monaghan would not be involved in this evening’s Ulster decider were it not for Mooney. It was the centre-forward’s injury-time goal that saw them snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in their Ulster opener against Cavan last October. The Farney men had not led once until Mooney’s late, late green flag. He accounted for 1-7 of Monaghan’s 1-8 total against Cavan and kicked a further 1-8 (five frees) and 0-5 (two frees) in their subsequent quarter and semi-final triumphs.
Arguably Derry’s outstanding performer en route to the final. Delivered towering displays in both their quarter-final and semi-final wins. Fielded an amount of ball during the latter victory over Tyrone last week. He kicked a point during this game, having got forward for 1-1 in December’s quarter-final win over Armagh.
Has played in both defence and attack across Monaghan’s three championship wins. Was stationed at corner-back in last week’s semi-final victory against Fermanagh, but still managed to pop up at the other end of the field and find the opposition net, as he did in the quarter-final against Antrim. Will be a key figure if Monaghan are to make it a three-in-a-row of Ulster minor titles.
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