Late bloomer Huw Lawlor in hurler of the year form

Sunday's All-Ireland semi-final is Lawlor and Kilkenny’s first championship crack at Tipperary since the 2019 final.

Kilkenny hurling players, from left, Eoghan Lyng, Adrian Mullen and Huw Lawlor at the launch of the 24th annual Circet All-Ireland GAA Golf Challenge in Michael Lyng Motors, Kilkenny. This year’s Challenge takes place at Killarney Golf and Fishing Resort on October 16th and 17th. Pic: Matt Browne/Sportsfile

You wouldn’t know it by his size and stature – about 14 stone and 6ft2in – or the way he has commanded the air in the centre of Kilkenny’s defence in the Leinster championship but Huw Lawlor was small for his age as a boy.

“When he was nine or 10 or 11 years of age, he was tiny,” Kilkenny great Tommy Walsh told Off The Ball listeners on Leinster final day last month. “He was like Messi. That’s how small he was.”