Fáilte chuig gaa.ie - suíomh oifigiúil CLG

Hurling

hurling

Tipp U-21s hope minor success leads to something major

Tipperary U-21 hurling star Billy McCarthy.

Tipperary U-21 hurling star Billy McCarthy.

By William Dunne

Tipperary's Billy McCarthy says that the county’s minor hurling success in recent years will have a vital role to play in their under 21 prospects this year.

Tipperary travel to the Gaelic Grounds this evening to take on Limerick in the Munster U21HC quarter-final, and have named eight players in their starting line-up who have all contested All-Ireland minor finals in the past two years.

Three years ago Limerick outclassed the Tipperary minor hurlers on a scoreline of 3-17 to 2-11, but McCarthy believes that the integration of the successful minor players will be crucial in bridging that gap this time out.

“As everyone knows the minors have done very well in the last two years,” said the Thurles Sarsfields player.

“They have got to the All-Ireland final the last two years and obviously won the All-Ireland last year so there is a good few of them coming through and with lads up to the age, I think we have definitely come on a long way.

“They do (have a winning mentality). That will progress onto us. They have that winning attitude.

“They know what it feels like to win. They are kind of bringing in that attitude to us and we are getting a good vibe from them.”

Brian McGrath

Brian McGrath

William Maher is in his second year in charge of Tipperary’s under 21 side, who will have to overcome a heavily fancied Limerick side if they are to remain in the competition.

Maher has named six players from the minor defeat three years ago to start on the revamped Tipperary side, as he sets out to bring an end to the county's seven year wait for a provincial crown at this grade.

McCarthy, who is one of the players who started in that loss in 2014, has faced Limerick at inter-county level in each of the last three years - with each game ending in defeat - but is confident that they can produce an upset this week.

“You have to have confidence going into games,” said McCarthy. “If you don’t think you can win it, then there’s no point really playing.

“You have to go in with an attitude that you’re going to win and that’s what we’ll bring down to Limerick. They’re a very good team but hopefully we can beat them.

“We have had good battles with Limerick over the past couple of years. We have played them in the under 21s the last two years and we did obviously play them in minor.

“I mean, we know each other fairly well and we’re going to have to stick tight to them really because they have a good calibre of players up in the forward line and we’ll have to keep them at bay.”

LIMERICK: Eoghan McNamara; Sean Finn, Darragh Fanning, Dan Joy; Ronan Lynch, Kyle Hayes, Josh Adams; Robbie Hanley, Colin Ryan; Aaron Gillane, Cian Lynch, Tom Morrissey; Peter Casey, Barry Nash, Barry Murphy.

**TIPPERARY: **Brian Hogan; Paul Maher, Emmett Moloney, Kevin Hassett; Robert Byrne, Brian McGrath, Enda Heffernan; Billy McCarthy, Ger Browne; Andrew Coffey, Stephen Quirke, Mark Kehoe; Lyndon Fairbrother, David Gleeson, Willie Connors.