Wicklow ready for
ALL roads lead to Thurles this Saturday afternoon as the Wicklow under-21 hurlers go into battle with their Kerry counterparts for the All-Ireland under-21 B hurling crown.
Two years ago, on a beautiful evening, a fortunate gathering of Wicklow natives were present in the magical Semple Stadium to witness ‘Bosco’ O’Neill’s side defeat Meath to claim this very trophy after a hectic battle on the hallowed turf.
Fast forward 24 months and it’s a very different Wicklow team that has reached this decider after two excellent victories, over Roscommon on the first day out and the fancied young men from Kildare more recently in the semi-final, both games in Pearse’s Park, Arklow.
Kerry breezed past Donegal in their opener and then came through a tough semi-final clash with Meath to secure their place in the final.
Kerry under-21 coach and Senior manager Fintan O’Connor said that the Meath result may have “flattered” the Kingdom side but this Kerry outfit is a formidable challenge to the Wicklow lads but as Seamus Murphy says in his interview below, the Garden lads are most certainly not travelling to make up the numbers. They are there on merit and they will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to claim the title.
This Wicklow team is littered with fine hurlers. Take the captain Pádraig Doyle, a stalwart on the four-in-a-row chasing Bray Emmets side, a wizard with the hurl, scorer of possibly the quickest point of the year with his sublime beast of a strike from midfield after five seconds of Bray’s SHC clash with Kiltegan last weekend.
Doyle is a leader by action, by example, and his experience from 2015 will stand to him as he leads out his troops come Saturday at 1pm in Thurles to the roar of what will hopefully be a sizable Wicklow support.
There are plenty of names that jump out from the Wicklow panel. Carnew’s Enda Donohue is one. If this man is in form then our hopes