Kerry teen phenom Gearóid White inspired by class of '18

If it had been Kerry's midfield colossus Evan Boyle or Daniel Kirby or even towering senior forward Tomás Kennedy that was named U20 footballer of the year, Gearóid White wouldn't have disagreed.
Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

For whatever reason, the Kerry minors that clinched a five-in-a-row of All-Ireland titles in 2018 didn't produce a whole lot of future seniors.

Dylan Geaney was the only one to make it, although that group did inspire a young player, Gearóid White, who may very well make it himself as a Kingdom senior.

White has been named as the Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U-20 Footballer of the Year for 2026 after helping his county clinch a first national title in 18 years.

As he said himself, if it had been their midfield colossus Evan Boyle or Daniel Kirby or even towering senior forward Tomás Kennedy that had got the gong, he wouldn't have disagreed.

But White was a deserving recipient, a 17-year-old phenom talent who captained the minors last year and, remarkably for the best player in the U-20 grade, is still only in fifth year at school. He has two more years of U-20 football to go.

Ask him about lineage and what inspired him to come roaring down this road and he points to his brother's involvement on the panel of 2018.

"He was on the extended panel that year," said Gearóid. "That year was what made me really want to push on in football, because I'd seen all the work that he was putting in and it just really made me want to experience that myself.

"You'd think a lot more (from 2018) would have broken through to the senior team but I don't know, honestly, it's a strange one. Not many made it through from that year to seniors or anything."

The 2020 crop of U-20s, which started the season by losing to Cork in the Munster Championship and ended it as All-Ireland winners, looks set to produce plenty of future seniors. Kennedy has already made the leap and will be expected to tog out again on Saturday evening for the All-Ireland senior quarter-final against Tyrone at Croke Park.

"We had a great team this year in fairness," said White, their number 11. "Yeah, a lot of those boys will be looking to make the step up, and everyone deserves it in that team. They're very hard-working, everyone's already in the gym now. It's only been three or four weeks since the final but everyone's back playing and working hard, pushing hard to make that step up."

White could only smile when Kerry and Tyrone were paired off again this weekend. His world has seemed to revolve around landmark occasions with Tyrone teams. He skippered the minor team that lost last year's All-Ireland final to Tyrone. Last month's U-20 final win over the Red Hands, in which he kicked a couple of two-pointers, amounted to revenge.

In between there was an agonising All-Ireland Hogan Cup final defeat with Tralee CBS to Colaiste Mhuire Mullingar.

"It was tough," said White of losing All-Ireland minor and college finals in a matter of months.

Marc Ó Sé was joint-manager of the Tralee CBS team. A few weeks after that defeat, White was involved with the Kerry U-20s under the management of Marc's brother, Tomás, when they were defeated by Cork in the provincial opener. The flak that followed was intense.

"There were a few comments passed about the team and how our performance was brutal and everything," said White. "We didn't really get too worked up about it because we knew we'd performed badly and conditions were poor and whatever, so we just kind of got on with it.

"It would open your eyes and make you realise that there's a lot of stuff to work on here, we need to pull up the socks. Training after that, the intensity and everything was just so much more, it was so much higher. It was a good thing."

White was joined on the overall U-20 team of the year by Kerry colleagues Boyle, Gearóid Evans, Kirby and Aodhna Ó Beaglaoich. Kildare's Jimmy Lynch, Eoghan Carthy of Roscommon and Ulster title winner Shea McDermott of Tyrone scooped the other provincial Player of the Year awards.

2026 Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U-20 Football Team of the Year: Evan Boyle, Gearóid Evans, Tomás Kennedy, Daniel Kirby, Aodhna Ó Beaglaoich, Gearóid White (all Kerry), Conor Devlin, Shea McDermott, Oisín Watson (all Tyrone), Eoghan Carthy, Michael Gillooly (both Roscommon), Jimmy Lynch, Ben Ryan (both Kildare), Tom Doherty (Monaghan), Kobe McDonald (Mayo).