Can Kildare U20s halt Tyrone threepeat?
Kildare U20 manager Niall Cronin Photo: ©INPHO/Tom O’Hanlon
At a time when Kildare’s senior football fortunes are at a low ebb, it seems a little incongruous to bring up the fact that Wednesday’s All-Ireland U20 semi-final clash with Tyrone (Breffni Park, Cavan, 7.30pm) brings together the two most successful sides in the nine-year history of that competition.
Out of the eight completed seasons to date the duo have annexed five titles between them, Tyrone with three and Kildare with two, while Kildare also reached a third final, beaten of course by the Red Hands in that 2022 decider. Other than those two counties, only Cork, Galway and Offaly have lifted the Clarke Cup since it switched to U20 in 2018.
Tyrone are aiming to become only the third team in the 63 years of this competition to secure three All-Ireland titles in a row. That could have been five-in-a-row had Kildare had not intervened under Brian Flanagan in 2023.
The great Kerry team of 1975-1977, with many of their renowned senior stars of that era aboard, were the first team to win a treble, beating the Lilywhites in the ‘76 final (0-14 to 1-3), while Cork repeated the feat from 1984 to 1986.
Since then, Tyrone, three times, and Kerry once are the only teams to even go back-to-back. Kildare, of course, had come close to doing so in the earlier years of the competition, winning it in 1965 before losing out to Roscommon in the 1966 final and Kerry in the following year’s semi-final.
The Lilywhites have been building game-on-game over the last few weeks with the abandoned game against Westmeath and its replay followed by outstanding wins over Meath and in that gripping Leinster final against Louth last week.
Niall Cronin’s side are well-drilled, confident, and have a happy knack of finding new star performers each week. When Ronan Kelly was well held by Meath, Jimmy Lynch stepped up to the scoring plate and last week Kelly was back to the fore with Louth perhaps overly focused on Lynch.
Daniel Colbert has been a colossus around midfield, a superb fielder of the ball who can also pick a pass, while Evan Boyle is becoming an influential partner for him around that area of the field where Ruaidhrí Lawlor is another class act. His two orange flags last week were sublime.
At the back Senan Gallagher had his hands full with Adam Gillespie last week after a superb performance against Meath but the likes of Ben Ryan - surely destined to follow in dad Glenn’s footsteps into senior football sooner rather than later - Liam Kelly and the rest of the defence have taken turns to snuff out opponents.
The heartbeat of the team, and joint captain with Ryan, is Colm Moran, however. After his outstanding club campaign with Athy last year and having gained senior experience with Brian Flanagan’s squad this winter, the young forward has been in outstanding form for the under-20’s, his ability to win and carry possession as well as take a score making him a difficult man for opponents to tie down.
What of Kildare’s chances, though? What are Tyrone made of this year?
It’s a difficult question to answer definitively. When they lost their opening group game to Cavan (1-14 to 0-15) it looked like the conveyor belt might have dried up a bit and although they hammered Down (4-23 to 1-14) to get back on track, they lost for the second time in round three against great rivals Armagh (1-24 to 2015).
That saw Paul Devlin’s side finish third in their group and into a tough-looking quarter-final against title favourites Derry which the Red Hands scraped through with a late, late Conor O’Neill goal.
A bit like Kildare they found momentum from there, beating Donegal 0-12 to 0-8 before finding their goal touch in the Ulster Final win over Monaghan (4-19 to 0-22).
Tyrone don’t have a huge contingent of their five-goal heroes from last year’s final against Louth on board with just three starters and four subs from that match featuring in the Ulster Final.
But Tyrone are Tyrone and can’t be taken lightly. A two-week break gives them a distinct advantage, but Kildare have a momentum and style about them that could well upset the applecart here.
