Leinster U21 Hurling Semi-Final Previews
Laois v Dublin - Bord Gais Energy Leinster GAA Hurling Under 21 Championship
Leinster U21 Hurling Semi-Final Previews
The Bord Gáis Energy Leinster U21 Hurling Championship continues on Wednesday night, when both semi-finals will take place. The final is scheduled to be played on Wednesday, July 9.
Bord Gáis Energy Leinster U21 Hurling Championship Semi-Finals
Wednesday, June 25
Westmeath v Dublin, Cusack Park, Mullingar, 7.30pm
Given Westmeath barely hung on to their status as a Liam MacCarthy Cup team and Dublin will expect to retain their Leinster Championship title at senior level, it would be easy to assume the outcome of this U21 semi-final is a foregone conclusion.
Dublin beat Laois fairly convincingly in their quarter-final . Joe Fortune's charges led by 1-7 to 0-9 at the interval in Parnell Park, but hit nine points without reply after the break to win quite comfortably in the end. Paul Winters scored 0-8 from placed balls, while Colm Cronin (main photo) was their top performer with 1-3 from play.
Cronin and Cuala clubmate Cian O'Callaghan are both involved with the Dublin senior team, with the former starting at wing-forward in the Leinster semi-final win over Wexford recently. Lucan Sarsfields' Chris Crummey, who is named at wing-forward, also has experience with Anthony Daly's senior side while Matthew McCaffrey is the younger brother of senior captain Johnny.
Having contested All-Ireland minor finals in 2011 and 2012 - Dublin lost to Galway and Tipperary respectively - the current U21 side has plenty of pedigree. O'Callaghan, Séan McClelland, Crummey, McCaffrey, Glenn Whelan, Winters, Cronin, Oisín O'Rorke and Aodhán Clabby all featured prominently on the minor team that lost the All-Ireland final to Galway in 2011, though the likes of Emmet Ó Conghaile, Conor McHugh and Cormac Costello have been lost to football and Ciarán Kilkenny is nursing a cruciate knee injury.
Interestingly, Dublin beat Westmeath in the 2011 Leinster minor semi-final en route to the provincial title, but they really had to battle for a six-point win at Parnell Park against what was considered to be one of the best U18 hurling sides ever to emerge from the Lake County. Niall O'Brien, then just 16, hit 1-2 for Westmeath that day and will be expected to play a huge role again for Brian Hanley's charges on Wednesday night now that he is an established senior star with a big reputation.
It's been a very challenging season for the county's senior side and they just about retained their Liam MacCarthy Cup status with a play-off win over Kildare recently . Galway native Hanley has insisted all along that it's all about rebuilding for the future now, and judging by the U21s' quarter-final thrashing of Carlow at the start of the month, he has plenty of material to work with.
Remarkably, every member of the starting XV that lined out in the 3-19 to 0-10 win at Cusack Park has featured for the senior side at some stage this season. O'Brien knocked over 0-8 (0-3f), while another senior star Robbie Greville scored 2-1 in a very impressive show of strength. Liam Varley and Tommy Doyle are two excellent defenders who will hope to keep a talented Dublin attack quiet.
Westmeath very nearly caused a big upset by running eventual provincial champions Wexford - the favourites to retain their title after beating Kilkenny in the previous round - very close last year, and with so much experience in their ranks, they will have very real ambitions of causing a major upset in Cusack Park on Wednesday night. Having lost to Laois and Carlow in the quarter-finals in 2012 and 2013 respectively, Dublin, however, will be very much on their guard and will expect to return to make it through to a Leinster U21 final for the first time since 2011.
DUBLIN: Conor Dooley; Sean McClelland, Cian O'Callaghan, Matthew McCaffrey; Eoghan O'Donnell, Rob Murphy, Chris Crummey; Glen Whelan, Conor Robinson; Paul Winters, Kevin O'Flynn, Colm Cronin; Oisin O'Rorke, Aodhan Clabby, Caolan Conway.
WESTMEATH: TBC
Wexford v Offaly, Wexford Park, 7.30pm (Live on TG4)
Following their very impressive quarter-final win over Kilkenny at the start of the month, defending Leinster champions Wexford will go into their semi-final clash with Offaly on Wednesday night brimming with confidence.
Having beaten the Cats in the Leinster final last year only to lose the All-Ireland semi-final to Antrim, the Model County delivered a real statement of intent for this year's campaign by beating Kilkenny by 2-14 to 0-10 in Nowlan Park . Peter Sutton and Rhys Clarke scored the goals in the closing stages to seal a surprisingly comfortable win.
Wexford have named an unchanged side , with senior stars Conor McDonald, Jack Guiney and Liam Ryan all included having started in the recent Leinster semi-final defeat to Dublin and likely to feature prominently in the Round 1 Qualifier against Clare on July 5, which is just days before a potential Leinster U21 final.
Guiney, McDonald, Garrett Foley, Eoin Conroy, Andrew Kenny, Shane O'Gorman, Clarke and Gary Moore are all survivors from the team that won the Leinster title last year so this is a very experienced Wexford side. They are managed by JJ Doyle once again this year.
Having received a bye in the last round, this is our first chance to see Offaly, who are managed by Dermot Hogan, in action this year. It's been a pretty dispiriting season so far for GAA in the county at senior level, so a performance of distinction in Wexford Park would be a major boost for beleaguered Faithful County supporters.
They include the talented Joe O'Connor, the St. Rynagh's youngster starting in midfield having played for the county's footballers in the All-Ireland Qualifier defeat to Wicklow last Saturday. Twins Peter and Thomas Geraghty from Kilcormac/Killoughey also feature in attack.
Offaly beat Laois and then lost to Kilkenny in the Leinster semi-final at this level last year. The sides last met in the competition back in 2012, when, with telling contributions from Gary Moore (0-8) and Jack Guiney (0-4), Wexford won a quarter-final clash by 1-19 to 0-10.
OFFALY: Kevin O'Connor; Niall Wynne, Dan Kelleher, Stephen Connolly; Simon Óg Lyons, Conor Doughan; Sean Gardiner; Con Mahon, Joe O'Connor; Emmet Nolan, Peter Geraghty, Jason Sampson; Thomas Geraghty, Sean Dolan, Colm Mulrooney.
WEXFORD: Oliver O'Leary; Garrett Foley, Liam Ryan, Eoin Conroy; Andrew Kenny, Shane O'Gorman, Jack O'Connor; Aidan Nolan, Conor Devitt; Jack Guiney, Pádraig Doyle, Kevin Foley; Rhys Clarke, Conor McDonald, Gary Moore.
Previews: Brian Murphy