Kildare up next for the Kerry minors

KILDARE stand in the way of Kerry reaching a third successive All Ireland final when the sides clash in the semi final in the curtain raiser at Croke Park on Sunday next (1:30pm).

Kerry of course, under the stewardship of Jack O’Connor, are champions of this grade for the past two years and so far the transition to the new team management headed up by Peter Keane has been seamless.

Kerry opened their campaign with a very facile victory over Waterford and followed that with a hard earned six points victory over Clare. In a cracking Munster Final against old rivals Cork, Kerry scored and conceded three goals but finished the stronger to record a deserved six points victory.

In the quarter final victory over Derry, Kerry again conceded a couple of goals but they scored some outstanding points from play throughout that game to finish eleven point victors.

Their opponents Kildare easily accounted for Wicklow and Westmeath and then caused a major shock when they defeated a Meath team (AET) who had earlier accounted for Dublin by all of ten points.

They had eleven points to spare over Laois in the Leinster final and six points to spare against Mayo in the quarter-final. A feature of their games has been the high scoring rate of their forwards, particularly the inside trio.

This game will be Kerry’s biggest test to date, but with many of the side having been through the big day Croke Park atmosphere last year and more having been part of the St Brendans Hogan Cup winning side earlier in the year, the experience gained should stand them in good stead.

However, only a performance out of the top drawer will suffice against a side who certainly know where the posts are. The Kerry team will be announced on Friday evening at 8pm. Referee for the game is Martin McNally from Monaghan.