Preview- ​Cracking affair expected in Kilkenny Junior Hurling decider

The JJ Kavanagh Junior Hurling Championship Final is down for decision this Saturday afternoon when Graignamanagh and Conahy meet in UPMC Nowlan Park at 3pm.

After a chaotic and up and down championship campaign thus far, the Bob Aylward Cup will be up for grabs as the two clubs look to emulate Barrow Rangers success from last year.

While you don’t have to go too far back for Conahy’s last appearance in a final which arrived in 2020, it’s a much longer wait for their opponents with Graignamanagh competing on junior county final day for the first time since their maiden success in the grade back in 1972.

Conahy are aiming to bounce back to the intermediate grade after in only their second season back at this level after losing the relegation final to Carrickshock in 2024 while for Graig, their dropping down occured back in 2011 so it’s taken 15 years of effort to be within 60 minutes of championship success.

A lot of credit must go to the club near the Carlow border with a huge amount of underage talent coming through the ranks in recent years with Kilkenny senior star Ivan Bolger the standout player of the current crop.

Bolger wears the no.3 jersey for the side in green and white but he can be found at any area of the field and this was perfectly summed up when he knocked over the winning score in the semi-final success over O’Loughlin Gaels with his last gasp effort sealing a fantastic come from behind success.

That doggedness and will to win has been a hallmark of Graignamanagh’s championship campaign and as well as coming from 10 points down in the semi-final success over O’Loughlin’s, they also snatched an against the grain win over Emeralds in the quarter-final.

Steven Kinsella, Richard Foley and Seamus Kavanagh bagged the goals in that quarter-final win as they again came from behind to win and while they will need to be faster starter’s this Saturday as you won’t always be able to get back into games, the fact they have scored a total of 11 goals in the four championship wins suggests they have the firepower to do damage on the scoreboard.

Away from the influence of Bolger at the back, Graig will look to the likes of Ted Dunne who scored two goals the last day, Steven Kinsella and Pierce Blanchfield as they look to put Conahy on the backfoot.

Graignamanagh may be the main story going into the final but Conahy will enjoy going in under the radar and after only competing in the intermediate grade two years ago, they will feel that they are well equipped to mark a return to that level of hurling. In Tom Phelan they have arguably the best hurler in the entire competition and while the Kilkenny star has struggled a bit with injury this year, there is no doubting his importance to the county finalists.

Alongside the experience of James Bergin and the accuracy from frees by Edmond Delaney, Conahy have been coasting along nicely with championship victories over Fenians, Piltown and John Lockes.

Like Graig, they have been gradually improving throughout the championship campaign and the semi-final win over league finalists Callan showcased all that was good about the Shamrocks outfit with the experienced core group of players offset by the younger crew with the 1-2 tally from Thomas Rice a good example of this.

In big performers in the likes of Phillip Cass and Ciaran Rice in defence as well as Mark Gunner and Edmond Delaney further up the field, the Conahy side have a lot of the tools to succeed as they look to win a fourth title in this grade.

Both semi-finals showed there was very little between the four teams on show and expect another tight tussle here which may even need extra-time to decide the winner.