ANALYSIS: Recent match between two counties 'a good warning' for Kilkenny

It’s brilliant to have a lot of Kilkenny teams competing well at underage level and it’s great to see the under-20s playing an All-Ireland final on their own pitch on Saturday.

It’s a great achievement for the lads to get to this stage, and the last time Kilkenny and Tipperary met at this level in a final was back in 2006, when Kilkenny won in Thurles.

It’s a great opportunity for the players to go and make such huge memories. For us, as Kilkenny people, we should really be turning out in huge numbers to attend this match and support the players.

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It is teed up to be a fantastic match and the under-20s have done really well. They were outstanding in the Leinster final with Dublin, and they also have a really good panel.

It’s looking like it could be a great day, and here’s hoping it’s the first of a few trophies in the next few weeks for Kilkenny.

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If Kilkenny could win on Saturday, it would follow on relatively quickly from Derek Lyng’s success a few years ago at this grade.

We’ve seen plenty of counties who’ve gone many years without any success at minor and under-20, and they do manage, and it doesn’t always define how your senior team will fare - but at the same time, a successful underage side can only be a positive.

It’s Tipperary in Nowlan Park, so everyone will want to win regardless if it’s an All-Ireland final or the first round of the league. There are a few things at stake, and I think the players will relish all that.

Mark Dowling will have the Kilkenny lads up for the game, and they will be ready for the challenge I’m sure.

A lot of credit should go to the likes of the County Board and Michael Fennelly as they’ve put in an awful lot of work at underage level lately - as there always has been in Kilkenny.

The coaches and mentors can see it as a great lift when teams are contesting All-Ireland finals at underage level, and there can be no doubting the way Kilkenny are competing at minor, under-20 and senior level at the moment.

Being successful across the board is a huge boost and a massive source of pride for Kilkenny people as well. To have teams competing in All-Ireland finals, semi-finals and Leinster finals at this stage of the year is hugely satisfying.

All of that only promotes the positivity around the county and it’s fantastic to continue this great tradition of getting to finals that Kilkenny have cultivated over the years.

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SENIORS

Away from the underage scene, Kilkenny played their final round-robin game with Wexford last week and there wasn’t really a whole lot learned or gained.

That was just the nature of the game being a dead rubber, and that can happen sometimes, but Kilkenny march on to a Leinster final and what they will have taken more from the weekend was Galway’s improvement in the win over Dublin.

Galway were very convincing and performed very well in Parnell Park, so I suppose they ticked a lot of boxes for a team going towards a Leinster final.

It was the most dangerous Galway have looked all year, and it’s a good warning to Kilkenny as to what they face in two weeks time.

There was a lot more fluidity with the way Galway went about things, and while Dublin played a very aggressive game, Michael Donoghue’s team absorbed that and they kept popping over scores every time Dublin threatened to make a real game of it.

Galway looked a lot sharper and their gameplan was more on point than when they played Kilkenny in Nowlan Park, and while they weren’t a huge goal threat, they still racked up a nice tally on the scoreboard.

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Kilkenny will look at them as a dangerous team that is very different to the two meetings earlier this year, and they look like their stock is rising, but Kilkenny will be happy that they got this warning ahead of the final.

I think people were reading into Adrian Mullen’s position at centre back a little more than what it really was. He’s been injured for a lot of the year, so it was an opportunity to get miles into his legs in a game.

Adrian is a smart and hugely capable hurler, and he can play in a lot of positions, but I think the objective of him playing at centre back was more so to get minutes into him and see how he coped in a deeper position.

Realistically, I don’t think anyone that supports Kilkenny will be saying that he should start there in a Leinster final or anything as we’ve a number of options there and in and around the half back area.

I feel he’d be better utilised further up the field as he’s good for a score, but for a once-off I can completely understand Derek and the management playing him there.

On the Leinster final itself, the GAA’s initiative in getting kids into the final for free is a great idea.

In fairness to Willie Maher and his development committee, they are trying new things and they deserve great credit for that.

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