Minor hurlers quietly confident

August 31, 2016

Paddy Kelly and John Delaney will be hoping to stop that Kerry 'Drive for 5'

Meath are looking to take the All Ireland Minor B hurling title from Kerry who are seeking their 5th consecutive title. Meath qualified for the final with wins over Roscommon and Wicklow, while Kerry beat Kildare and Down.

The Meath management team and players are quietly confident having had a competitive year in the Leinster senior schools, Leinster league, Leinster championship and the Celtic Challenge against quality sides like Dublin, Offaly, Antrim, Westmeath, Kildare, and Waterford.

But their preparation really started back in 2011 when Peter Durnin from Meath Coaching & Games organised the first "Meath High Kings" u13 hurling program in the newly opened Dunganny Centre of Excellence. The program consisted of coaching sessions every Saturday with Peter and his guest coaches - and culminated with a coaching session led by Brian Cody and Martin Fogarty at St Kierans College Kilkenny - aptly described by some of the players at the time as the "Hogwarts of Hurling".

The Meath minor hurling squad at St Kierans College Kilkenny

It is very fitting then that the the All Ireland final preparations by current management team of John Delaney, Paul Reilly, and Paddy Kelly included a return trip to St Kierans College to play the Kilkenny u17's, and also included a trip to the GAA National Games Development center in Abbottstown for a coaching session with the new National Hurling Development manager Martin Fogarty. 

Meath's recent Christy Ring success was a fantastic boost for Meath hurling - and now having both u21's and minors qualifying for their All Ireland B finals shows the real extent of progress being made in Meath hurling.

Meath Panel: Conor Hayes (Kildalkey), Daniel Devine (Na Fianna), Jamie Smith (Killyon), Jamie Leavy (Dunderry), Mikey Cullen (Trim), Conor McNally (Kiltale), David Murtagh (Trim), Mikey Mullen (Killyon), John Mitchell (Dunboyne), Peter Farrell (Trim), Cian Slattery (Na Fianna), Ben McGowan (Ratoath), Gavin O'Keeffe (Dunboyne), Jack Cummins (Kiltale), Brian O'Reilly (Killyon), Evan Fitzgerald (Kildalkey), Jamie Connolly (Longwood), Ronan Byrne (Na Fianna), Adam Murphy (Kiltale), Will Flynn (Na Fianna), Darren Hennessey (Rathmolyon), Brian Dowling (Trim), Aaron Dunne (Killyon), Charlie Ennis (Trim), Jacob Ryan (Killyon), Sean Coffey (Na Fianna), Evan Buckley (Trim), Conor O'Farrell (Donaghmore Ashbourne), Daragh Gilmartin (Dunboyne), Ethan Devine (Na Fianna), Sean Martin (Na Fianna),  Brian Reilly (Kiltale), Brin Kelly (Kildalkey), James McNally (Kildalkey), Aidan Mangan (Kilmessan), 


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