Preview: Dalta Hotel Group All-Ireland U20 Football Final - Kerry v Tyrone
Tomás Kennedy of Kerry in action against Conor Devlin of Tyrone during the 2025 Dalata Hotel Group GAA Football All-Ireland U20 Championship semi-final match. The two players will go head to head again in tomorrow's All-Ireland Final. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
Saturday, May 30
Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U20 Football Final
Kerry v Tyrone, Croke Park, 5pm - TG4
Tyrone bid to make their mark in the history books by winning a third Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U20 title in a row and fourth in five years.
Only one other county has previously achieved the feat – their opponents on Saturday, Kerry.
If the Kingdom needed any more motivation to stop Tyrone in their tracks, it’s been the painful defeats they’ve suffered at their hands in this grade in recent years.
Tomás Ó Sé’s team were beaten in last year’s semi-final by the Red Hand County and in the previous year’s Final, so falling to them for a third year in succession would be hard to take.
This is a experienced Tyrone team that includes 15 of last year’s panel, though not all of them make the starting XV.
Team manager Paul Devlin has always made a point of promoting form players rather than those who have worn the jersey in the past to ensure no-one feels like they can afford to rest on their laurels, and this year has been no different.
Five newcomers – Sean Broderick, Michael McNamee, Aodhan Quinn, Adrian McGurren, and Peter Colten – have come into the panel this year and are likely to start against Kerry.
Tyrone were twice beaten in the Ulster Championship group phase – by Armagh and Cavan – but have gotten better as the year has gone on.
Their attack grabbed most of the headlines in their last two All-Ireland wins thanks to prodigious talents like Eoin McElholm and Ruairi McCullagh, but their progression to this year’s final has been very much built on a water-tight defence.
Led superbly by centre-back and captain, Conor Devlin, they haven’t conceded a goal in their last four matches.
They arguably haven’t come up against as good an attack yet this year though as they one they will face against Kerry.
Kingdom senior panellist, Tomás Kennedy, is a very potent target-man on the edge of the square and he has great back-up in the shape of players like Paddy Lane and Gearóid White.
Kerry also have a lot of firepower on the bench as they proved in their extra-time semi-final win over Roscommon when players like Máirtín McKivergan and Jack Joy made a big impact as subs.
The wide expanses of Croke Park will suit the way Kerry like to play the game, but Tyrone’s gritty defence and experience of winning big games could be decisive.
