Underage rivals Offaly and Tipperary set to meet again in sell-out U20 finale

“We started the Munster final with 13 underage again next year, Offaly will probably be in the same boat. It just goes to show in hurling that it is not about big physicality and strength,” remarked Tipp manager Brendan Cummins.

Wed, 29 May, 2024 - 06:45

Eoghan Cormican

The rematch has come 12 months early.

It wasn’t supposed to be until next June that the U20 hurlers of Offaly and Tipperary would reacquaint themselves with one another and reprise an underage rivalry that hangs on one barnburning and heartbreaking hour of hurling.

Of the 20 Tipp players to see game-time in Friday’s Munster final, 13 featured in the utterly dramatic come-from-behind All-Ireland minor final win of two years ago.

Of the 18 Offaly players to see game-time during last Wednesday’s Leinster final, 10 were involved inside the whitewash at Nowlan Park when a four-point lead as late as the second minute of injury-time was surrendered to the 14 boys of Tipp.

Offaly aren’t just a year ahead of their time, they came two years early when reaching last season’s U20 decider. There they were bullied by a far more physically imposing Cork team.

But with their U20 final opponents on this occasion boasting a starting team of which 13 will still be around in 2025, the verdict is that pace and panache will rule the day in Saturday’s sold-out encounter.

“There is a huge amount of skill to our game, as well, and work-rate, and Offaly have that all over the pitch, so we expect a lightning-fast game.” Falling as it did two days before their own provincial decider, Cummins did not sit down to watch Offaly’s successful Leinster title defence. He did, however, catch their Leinster semi-final against Kilkenny a week earlier, a game where they were hit for eight-in-a-row either side of half-time to slip from five in front to chasing a three-point deficit.

“Offaly are seriously impressive. Kilkenny a very big, strong team. Offaly just dodged around them with unbelievable skill. They bring a huge freshness to the game.

“Their supporters are absolutely unbelievable, as I know and I know for sure that Tipperary people will travel in force to the All-Ireland final. It is going to be a great game.”

It is a game where the motivation and edge sits with the Faithful. Cruel was the manner in which All-Ireland minor silverware was ripped from their grasp two summers ago. But the Tipperary side they seek to exact revenge on, despite the strong crossover, are stronger than their minor version.

Darragh McCarthy and Senan Butler did not start the aforementioned minor decider. In 2024, they have been their county’s standout U20 players.

McCarthy comes into the final with 1-38 to his name from the Munster round-robin. 1-31 might have come from the placed ball, but from play was his sensational Munster final winner. As for Butler, he contributed 4-6 en route to provincial success, as well as assisting for Oisín O’Donoghue’s Munster final goal.

“I couldn't believe it,” Cummins said of dethroning Cork. “You'd always try to envisage yourself winning, then you can see yourself losing by 20 points as well, especially against a team like Cork and how good they are.

“At the final whistle, it was just relief. I am delighted for our young men. Anything we have asked them to do, they have been there. The heart and spirit that they have, we just have to nurture it. We didn't have to put it into them, it has been there all along. Saturday is the be-all-and-end-all for this group.”

On the Offaly side, there was an apology on Tuesday morning from county board chairman Michael Duignan to Faithful supporters who were unsuccessful in securing a ticket for Saturday’s 26,000 sell-out.

Where Tipperary took an allocation of tickets to distribute exclusively through their clubs, Duignan said Offaly did not do likewise because of advice received from Croke Park. Tickets that went on general sale through Ticketmaster on Monday were immediately snapped up.

“Tipperary took numbers for their clubs, the advice we got was not to do it. I don't know in hindsight if that was a good or a bad call. Should we have taken an allocation for our clubs? Maybe we should have, I am not sure,” Duignan told the Offaly Express.

“The advice we got was that tickets to clubs would be all over the place and it would be better for people to buy online themselves. Offaly wrote to clubs and told them this on Friday. There was no comeback about it.

“People are frustrated, and I do apologise if they didn't get tickets.”