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Championship previews: Minor, senior and U-20 action in store

Harry Shine of Kilkenny, pictured during the 2021 Electric Ireland Leinster tie between Kilkenny and Wexford at Netwatch Cullen Park.

Harry Shine of Kilkenny, pictured during the 2021 Electric Ireland Leinster tie between Kilkenny and Wexford at Netwatch Cullen Park.

By Kevin Egan

Galway v Kilkenny, Electric Ireland All-Ireland MHC semi-final, Friday 7.30pm in Semple Stadium, live on TG4

It’s hard to imagine that 30 years ago, Galway had just a single All-Ireland minor hurling title, having won one out of the 12 final appearances across six decades up to that point. Now we’ve to go all the way back to 2016 to find the last time the county lost a game in this championship, which is a fair indication of how they’ve taken complete control of this prestigious grade of hurling.

Tonight in Thurles they’ll field four players who played a part in their side’s 2020 final victory over the same opposition a month ago, though goalkeeper Darragh Walsh is the only starter from that team. Tiernan Leen, 2021 captain Diarmuid Davoren and Darren Shaughnessy were introduced as substitutes and they line out at full back, midfield and wing forward respectively, while Castlegar’s Darragh Neary will be one of the main threats in a very lively and free-scoring attacking unit.

There’s a fair bit more experience in the Kilkenny team, with five starters from last year’s final, all of them located in the middle third of the field. Harry Shine and Gearóid Dunne were particularly impressive in the latter stages of last year’s championships, with Shine moving to left wing forward, from where he’ll captain the side. Full forward Killian Carey came off the bench in that final, and he will take up residence on the edge of the square, where his battle with Tiarnán Leen looks like it will be a significant contest in the battle to advance to a final clash with Cork.

GALWAY (v Kilkenny): Darragh Walsh; Matthew Tarpey, Tiarnán Leen, Joshua O’Connor; Dylan Dunne, Diarmuid Davoren, Nathan Gill; Joshua Ryan, Conor Lawless; Darren Shaughnessy, Michéal Power, Rory Burke; John Cosgrove, Darragh Neary, Oisín Lohan.

KILKENNY (v Galway): Alan Dunphy; Evan Rudkins, Bill Hughes, Seán Moore; Joe Fitzpatrick, Gearóid Dunne, Eoghan Lyng; Anthony Ireland Wall, Killian Doyle; James Walsh, Ted Dunne, Harry Shine; Danny Glennon, Killian Carey, Ben Whitty.

Dublin forward Con O'Callaghan has had a mixed championship campaign so far.

Dublin forward Con O'Callaghan has had a mixed championship campaign so far.

Dublin vs Mayo, All-Ireland SFC semi-final, Saturday at 6pm in Croke Park, live on RTE Sport and Sky Sports.

It’s the pairing that rarely disappoints, at least in terms of the quality of the fare they provide. Even at the peak of their powers, Dublin always found Mayo to be fiercely tough opposition, though actual head-to-head wins for the Connacht county were rare. This will be the tenth meeting of the counties in the last ten championships, all at either the semi-final or final stage, and Mayo’s only victory was the first of the ten, their 0-19 to 0-16 win in the 2012 semi-final.

When Dublin beat Wexford by eight points in the quarter-final round of this year’s Leinster championship, it was the lowest winning margin they had recorded in the competition since beating Meath by seven in the 2013 final. Similar subsequent wins over Meath (2-16 to 1-13) and Kildare (0-20 to 1-9) would suggest that either the chasing pack in Leinster is making up ground, or else Dublin is coming back to meet the rest of the country. Tomorrow evening’s game will be the first big indication of which of the two theories holds true.

Certainly when it comes to goal threat, the edge of the Dubs has been blunted a fair bit. Con O’Callaghan remains capable of exploding into life at any time and if Mayo’s Oisín Mullin isn’t deemed fit to start, James Horan will have a big problem on his hands here. Even if Mullin is considered fit and ready, this will still be a huge challenge for the young Kilmaine player, given that O’Callaghan put in a strong showing against Meath, scoring 1-3, but was comparatively quiet otherwise.

At midfield, Diarmuid O’Connor and Brian Fenton will likely pair off, meaning that James McCarthy should end up in the company of Matthew Ruane. Putting Dublin on the back foot here would be a huge feather in Mayo’s cap.

Other issues for Dublin will include how to handle Aidan O’Shea, and the drop in productivity of their bench this year. However for all that, they’ve played three championship games, won each of them comfortably, and remain the six-in-a-row All-Ireland champions until someone – whether that’s Kerry, Tyrone or Mayo in 2021, or someone else in 2022 and beyond – dethrones them.

Colin Walsh has anchored the Roscommon U-20 defence superbly in 2021.

Colin Walsh has anchored the Roscommon U-20 defence superbly in 2021.

Offaly v Roscommon, Eirgrid All-Ireland U20FC Final, Sunday at 1.30pm in Croke Park, TG4

The 2021 Eirgrid U-20 football championship has been an absolute joy to watch this summer, and last weekend it was Roscommon’s stunning late comeback against Down, where they outscored the Ulster champions by 1-5 to no score in the last five minutes plus stoppage time, that captivated the country.

Both Roscommon and Offaly play a very attractive brand of attacking football, however they use very different styles. While Offaly like to run the ball directly and with great pace, inspired by playrs like Cormac Egan and Cathal Flynn, Roscommon are accurate kick passers of the ball, happy to spray the ball around the field. They use this approach to try to create good shooting opportunities for marksmen like Daire Cregg, Adam McDermott and Ben O’Carroll. James Fitzpatrick adds a touch of elusiveness on the run and also a serious goalscoring instinct, with five green flags coming from the Oran player in just four games so far this year.

There are key battles all over the pitch set to play out, but none looks more significant that the clash of Offaly full forward Jack Bryant, who scored 2-4 against Cork last time out and 3-20 in the championship as a whole, and Roscommon full back and captain Colin Walsh.

Walsh struggled to get his place with the Roscommon minors three years ago but has developed his game incredibly well and now plays with incredible awareness, toughness and discipline in a vital position on the field. Daire Cregg was the official player of the match at Kingspan Breffni last week, but in many people’s eyes it was Walsh who was the key man in Roscommon’s win.

It’s looking like this game is a sell out at Croke Park as both counties revel in the excitement of a chance to win a first All-Ireland football title since 2006 (Roscommon, minor) or 1988 (Offaly, U-21).