Under 21s make history

SUCCESS brings its own burden – that of expectation. After the Kerry minor hurlers had won the past five All Ireland Minor B titles in-a-row, the expectation was that the Kerry Under 21 hurlers would follow up those minor wins with wins at the higher grade.

Alas it didn’t always happen. Despite going into those campaigns as overwhelming favourites, Kerry came up short for one reason or another. 2017 was the year Ian Brick and his management team were determined to draw a line in the sand.

The management of the team was shared between Brick (senior selector and Under 21 boss) and Fintan O’Connor (senior boss and Under 21 selector / coach) and the integration of the two panels paid obvious dividends and should continue to do so into the future.

Kerry’s victory over Wicklow – on a scoreline of 2-12 to 2-8 – in Semple Stadium (ahead of the A decider) was just rewards for a season of hard work and marked the first time the Richie McElligott Cup would reside in the Kingdom. It was only fitting that the first Kerry man to claim the cup named after McElligott was a fellow Lixnaw man – Darragh Shanahan.

The game itself was releatively nip and tuck – Wicklow led by two at the break 1-5 to 0-6 – but Kerry, with Jack Goulding and Shane Conway prominent, upped it to another level in the second half.

“They reaped the rewards and we’re delighted that they got there,” Brick said.

“Any way we were able to get over the line we were delighted. It showed an awful lot of character.”