Allianz HL Division 1A team by team: Galway and Tipp must learn to win again
Allianz Hurilng League Division 1A
: Brian Lohan (sixth season).
: Tony Kelly.
: Séadna Morey and Paul Flanagan, both of whom were All-Ireland winners in 2013 and 2024, have retired.
: Jan 26h Kilkenny (h); Feb 8th Galway (a); Feb 23rd Wexford (h); March 2nd Limerick (a); March 9th Cork (h); March 22nd Tipperary (a).
: Shane Woods, Daithí Lohan, Rian Considine and Ian MacNamara have been added to the panel. Jack O’Neill, who is still U20, joined the squad during last year’s championship and is a very exciting talent.
Nobody.
In his post-match interview after last year’s league final, Shane O’Donnell said one of the highlights of the successful campaign was so many young players getting so much exposure. That really stood to Clare in the long-run, especially in extra-time of the All-Ireland final. No other manager has given more game-time to young players than Brian Lohan. Expect that trend to continue this spring, with Clare still finding the right balance between competitiveness and development.
: Winning the league last year was far more important than it is this year.
: Pat Ryan (third season).
: Rob Downey.
All short-term injuries that should only affect the opening few League games. They are Mark Coleman (hamstring), Eoin Downey (osteitis pubis), Tommy O’Connell (back), and Seán Twomey (back). Dáire O’Leary, who had a fine club season with both Imokilly and Watergrasshill, and was expected to challenge for defensive game-time as a result, will not be involved in 2025. His work as a Garda sees him based in Kildare.
: Jan 25th Wexford (a); Feb 1st Limerick (h); Feb 22nd Tipperary (a); March 1st Kilkenny (h); March 9th Clare (a); March 22nd Galway (h).
: Daniel Hogan from Sarsfields has been brought in but will have to hit the ground running. Darragh O’Sullivan is an excellent defender. Diarmuid Healy is another ball-winning option at half-forward. Alan Walsh is being looked at following a club season where he struck 5-10 for Kanturk.
: Darragh Flynn from Ballygiblin, who won successive All-Ireland U20 medals in 2020 and 2021, has returned to the squad. Injury uninterrupted, Pádraig Power will be determined to make a push right from the first throw-in, rather than chasing the year, as he has been in recent seasons.
After coming so close last year, winning the All-Ireland is the only bottom line – as it always is anyway in Cork – but this group need to win something first, to really launch themselves for the championship, and to convince themselves that they can win silverware; Cork have come up short in the last three finals they played - 2021 and 2023 All-Irelands and the 2022 league final. Winning a first league title in 27 years is another huge motivation.
: League champions.
: Micheál Donoghue (1st year, second term).
: Not yet announced.
: Gearóid McInerney, Joseph Cooney and Adrian Tuohy – All-Ireland winners from 2017 – are no longer involved.
: Jan 26th Tipperary (h); Feb 2nd Kilkenny (a); Feb 8th Clare (h); March 1st Wexford (a); March 8th Limerick (a); March 22nd Cork (a).
When Donoghue assembled a 57-man training panel for the winter, he dug as deep as the 2023 minor team, three of whom – Aaron Niland, Jason Rabbitte and Seán Murphy – are still involved with Presentation College Athenry, one of the sides fancied to rattle the colleges All-Ireland. Niland has been injured but is one of the most exciting young players around.
Greg Thomas, who Henry Shefflin brought into the squad in 2022, but who wasn’t part of the panel last year, is back.
Micheál Donoghue, Franny Forde and Noel Larkin (along with Eamon O’Shea) are what Galway need at this moment, but, while they will make the team better structured, harder to beat, and more competitive, this is still a massive reconstruction job. One of Donoghue, Forde and Larkin’s greatest legacies with Dublin was their masterclass in player development, of how they discovered players from nowhere, transformed peripheral players, and turned them into established pillars of the side. They know the Galway club scene far better but can they do that here?
Donoghue knows the value of winning the league – Galway won it in 2017 – but he also realises the priority; stabilise, but re-energise the side - and get the Galway public behind them again. Only one way to do that - win matches consistently. Better again if they can win with more style than Galway played with over the last couple of years.
: Derek Lyng (3rd year).
: John Donnelly.
: Cillian Buckley, Conor Fogarty and Walter Walsh have retired. Conor Delaney is also no longer involved.
: Jan 26th Clare (a); Feb 2nd Galway (h); Feb 8th Wexford (a); Feb 23rd Limerick (h); March 1st Cork (a); March 9th Tipperary (h).
Lyng introduced 15 new faces to the current squad over the winter, seven of whom – Killian Corcoran, Jeff Neary, Niall Shorthall, Cillian Hackett, Marty Murphy, Eoghan Lyng and Paddy Langton – played U20 in 2024. Langton played on the All-Ireland U20 winning team in 2022, as did Harry Shine, who was also U20 last year but is in his second year on the senior panel. Can he make the step up now this spring?
: ‘In with a bang’ could be applied to Fionán Mackessy, the former Kerry player who transferred from St Brendan’s Ardfert to O’Loughlin Gaels last year, and who impressed in the club championship.
Mackessy is an option at centre-back but David Blanchfield will also be tried there during the league, although he needs to play a different way than he does as a number 6 with Bennettsbridge. Huw Lawlor is another option at centre-back but Kilkenny need him at number 3. Padraic Moylan should still get a run at full-back in some of the upcoming games.
: The team is unlikely to change too much from 2024 but the big question is can some of the All-Ireland U20 winners of 2022 – which now make up a huge part of the squad – step up and nail down a jersey?
: John Kiely (9th season).
: Cian Lynch.
: Graham Mulcahy has retired while Nickie Quaid is recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury and will be in a desperate bid to get back for the championship. Conor Boylan, a regular player off the bench in recent seasons isn’t currently involved. Neither is Oisin O’Reilly. Jamie Power and David McCarthy started league games between the posts for Limerick last year but are no longer part of the squad either.
: Feb 1st Cork (a); Feb 9th Tipperary (h); Feb 23rd Kilkenny (a); March 2nd Clare (h); March 8th Galway (h); March 22nd Wexford (h).
: There are 13 newcomers on the current provisional 46-man squad, which include Doon’s Eddie Stokes and Chris Thomas. Vince Harrington, Fintan Fitzgerald, Darragh Langan, Cian Scully, Hugh Flanagan, Seán Casey, Con Hayes and Oisin O’Farrell all played with the U20s last year.
: Shane Dowling. After stepping away from the panel at the end of the 2019 championship because of a knee injury, Dowling returned as Na Piarsaigh’s senior ‘keeper in 2023. Still one of the best strikers in the game, Dowling has returned now as a goalkeeper.
: Kiely has rightly been extremely loyal to this group of players, who have won everything, but, with Kiely now in his ninth season, adding freshness to the team this spring will surely be a priority. The league is a chance for Shane O’Brien, Adam English, Donnacha Ó Dálaigh and Aidan O’Connor to prove they can be championship starters. In turn, that competition will push the older crew even more.
: Given how seriously Limerick treated the league in 2023 (well, they didn’t set out with that intention but won it anyway), and how poorly they exited the competition last year in the semi-final, Limerick should have more of a 2023 mindset towards the league this spring.
: Liam Cahill (3rd season).
: Ronan Maher.
: Dan McCormack and Patrick ‘Bonner‘ Maher have retired while Cathal Barrett and Barry Heffernan are no longer on the squad. Mark Kehoe has gone travelling.
: Jan 26th Galway (a); Feb 2nd Wexford (h); Feb 9th Limerick (a); Feb 22nd Cork (h); March 9th Kilkenny (a); March 22nd Clare (h).
Cahill has introduced 17 new players to the squad, which includes five of last year’s starting U20 team - Darragh McCarthy, Oisin O’Donoghue, Aaron O’Halloran, Sam O’Farrell and Conor Martin. McCarthy is still U20 this year but already looks a solid bet to start in the championship.
Seamus Kennedy. Missed last year’s championship after rupturing his cruciate knee ligament in a league game against Limerick in March.
: In an interview before Christmas, Cahill outlined some of his main aims for 2025; to get the Tipperary public back behind the team again; for the side to play with more spirit than they often showed last year; to be more certain about his starting team by the end of the league. That instability was a factor in last year’s championship. Also need to get more pace into the side.
: Cahill has always taken the league seriously; he won it with Waterford in 2022, while Tipp were in semi-finals in 2023 and 2024. That spring momentum though, was soon lost in the championship. Tipp will want to start winning games again but arresting that recent trend is pivotal going forward into the summer.
: Keith Rossiter (2nd year).
: No official announcement yet.
: Diarmuid O’Keeffe, Matthew O’Hanlon and Liam Óg McGovern have retired, while three of the 2024 panel – James Lawlor, Aaron Duggan and Jack Doran – are no longer involved. Oisin Foley has gone travelling while Conor Devitt needs knee surgery and is expected to be out for 5-6 months. Joe O'Connor is struggling with injury and is taking a break in a bid to get himself back to full fitness.
: Jan 25th Cork (h); Feb 2nd Tipperary (a); Feb 8th Kilkenny (h); Feb 23rd Clare (a); March 1st Galway (h); March 22nd Limerick (a).
: Rossitter has brought in two new goalkeepers, Andy Kennedy from St Anne’s and Derry Mahon of HWH-Bunclody. Darragh Kehoe, full-back with DCU and Eoin Whelan are solid options at number 3 for the league, in the absence of Liam Ryan until March. Jack Redmond from Rathnure is involved after a strong club campaign, while Seán Rowley, still under 19, is also on the panel. Cillian Byrne, a younger brother of Cian is on an extended training panel. He mightn't feature in the immediate future but is an exciting talent.
: Conall Clancy from Faythe Harriers, who was on the panel in 2023, is back.
Aside from the championship defeat to Antrim last year, and the quarter-final thumping from Clare, Wexford were hard to beat in 2024. But they still couldn’t get on the right side of enough of those results; they drew three games last spring, should have beaten Dublin in the championship, and could have beaten Kilkenny. Edging those tight matches will be a priority but that task will be harder again without the leadership of O’Hanlon and O’Keeffe, and with Liam Ryan sidelined for most of the league.
: Staying in the division will be a productive spring – but will be a struggle.
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