Leinster Minor Hurling Championship 2016

grover · April 07, 2016, 10:12:13 PM

Laois team v Offaly:
1 O Bennett. Camross
2 B Quinlan Borris Kilcotton
3 E Killeen. Rathdowney Errill
4 J Geaney. Portlaoise
5 D Connolly. Ballyfin
6 J Cranny. Abbeyleix
7 L Cleere. Clough Ballwcolla
8 L McDonald. Slieve Margy
9 L Delaney. Abbeyleix
10 S Dunphy. Borris Kilcotton
11 A Dunphy. Borris Kilcotton
12 C Comerford The Harps
13 A Bergin. Portlaoise
14 J Walshe. Clough Ballacolla
15 M Dowling. Camross

burdizzo · April 08, 2016, 07:57:43 AM

Must be the first time there's someone from the 'other side' of the county on a Laoise team.

Or, at least, the first time in quite a while...

Shapes Ex Laoistalk · April 08, 2016, 10:37:13 AM

Quote from: burdizzo on April 08, 2016, 07:57:43 AM
Must be the first time there's someone from the 'other side' of the county on a Laoise team.

Or, at least, the first time in quite a while...

Ciaran Comerford plays football for Ballylinan so you could make that two from that side. The footballers have Robert Tyrell from Camross playing midfield too.

Times are changing?

burdizzo · April 08, 2016, 10:45:33 AM

Didn't Robert Jones from Kilcotton play for the minor footballers one year they won the all-Ireland? 2003, was it?

SpeculativeEffort · April 08, 2016, 10:56:16 AM

Being a bit too kind to Robert there. He was on the minor team in 1998 when they were beaten by Tyrone. Lads from hurling areas playing on minor football teams is a bit more common
than the other was around. Ger Reddin and Matthew Whelan would have played minor football in the 00's.

Hasn't been many hurlers coming from football clubs though. Good to see it.

grover · April 08, 2016, 11:24:49 AM

Just looking at the team that played Kilkenny in last years championship. Six starters from that team,the 2 Dunphys,Lee Cleere, Joe Geany,David Connolly and Aaron Bergin. Liam Delaney and Eric Killeen came on as subs. Interesting to see that Robbie Phelan and Stephen Phelan both started as well but are not part of the Minor panel this year.

Unlaoised · April 08, 2016, 11:26:21 AM

Quote from: grover on April 08, 2016, 11:24:49 AM
Just looking at the team that played Kilkenny in last years championship. Six starters from that team,the 2 Dunphys,Lee Cleere, Joe Geany,David Connolly and Aaron Bergin. Liam Delaney and Eric Killeen came on as subs. Interesting to see that Robbie Phelan and Stephen Phelan both started as well but are not part of the Minor panel this year.

Are they still under age?

steven seagal · April 08, 2016, 12:37:58 PM

A strong enough team on paper. Aaron Dunphy and Aaron Bergin are probably the two main scoring threats. Was very impressed with Lee Cleere last year with Clough-Ballacolla, handled himself very well at senior level considering how young he was. Few good prospects on that team, hopefully they keep up our good recent record against Offaly.

merman · April 09, 2016, 09:08:04 AM

Very good team out there today.

Disappointing to see Stephen and Robbie Phelan opting out this year.
Robbie had been on the team for the last two years and would have impressed most observers with the C/Bcolla seniors last year. Himself and Aaron Dunphy would be a serious double-act at this level.

I'm a huge fan of Stephen Phelan too; I only realised recently that he wasn't involved. We'll miss his physicality and athleticism; a very talented player who is very awkward to mark.

Killeen and Cranny will be severely tested today. Killeen is a lovely hurler but I would never have seen him as a full back personally; hope he goes well. Cranny is a good defender and strong in the air. He has two good hurlers either side of him and he should have the physical presence to anchor that defence nicely.

Midfield looks very capable. Two confident young men; both bring good athleticism and energy.

Forwards look to have a nice blend. The Dunphys are great prospects and Aaron, in particular, will take a lot of minding. I'd expect Offaly to play a sweeper and double up on him. Quick ball into the likes of Bergin should be the order of the day.

Best of luck to all involved.

blueandwhite1 · April 09, 2016, 08:04:42 PM

Blew it. We were WAY better but played with a complacency that allowed Offaly back in. Their heads did not look right at all.

Thewildcat · April 10, 2016, 10:20:41 AM

wouldn't go as far as laois blew it, yes at halftime it looked good but it took offaly a while to get going and when they got their match ups right they were on top, theres nothing between the teams, but alot of hard work for this offaly team to do yet.

laois hurl well in the senior game at least we will have the old derby again next year in portlaoise

SpeculativeEffort · April 10, 2016, 11:43:39 AM

Could have went either way. Laois had a goal disallowed when 5/6 up at start of 2nd half and dominating. If it had been allowed I couldn't have imagined an Offaly revival. Like previous poster said, Offaly got to grips with game from 45 mins onwards and began to play with a bit of fire. Laois found it hard to respond. A skillful Laois team but they should have put Offaly to the sword when they had the chance. Hopefully a lesson learned.

LOVEGAA · April 11, 2016, 10:07:14 AM

Very disappointing result from what seemed like a good team on paper.

I think that some of them suffered from lack of match practice / training due to injury

They didnt seem to gel as a team and felf that there was too much going for glory. Yes if we had to get the goal in the first 5 mins it was a great start but 2 points were thrown away which would have settled them a bit.

They are a good team and hopefully all this will get sorted and they will settle down but a lot of work to be done

redsetanta · April 11, 2016, 10:23:30 AM

Playing Carlow, who defeated Kildare, in two weeks time.

Offaly have a game against Killkenny the same day.

theskull1 · April 11, 2016, 12:01:06 PM

Quote from: merman on April 09, 2016, 09:08:04 AM
Disappointing to see Stephen and Robbie Phelan opting out this year.
Robbie had been on the team for the last two years and would have impressed most observers with the C/Bcolla seniors last year. Himself and Aaron Dunphy would be a serious double-act at this level.

I'm a huge fan of Stephen Phelan too; I only realised recently that he wasn't involved. We'll miss his physicality and athleticism; a very talented player who is very awkward to mark.

Out of interest, we're these lads missing because of the new rule forbids county minors to play senior club until minor IC is finished for the year?