Minor Footballers aim to continue consistent growth

GAA: Electric Ireland Munster Minor Football Championship Preview

By Thomas Conway

TIPPERARY v WATERFORD

Fethard Town Park

Monday, 7th April

Throw-in @ 7.00pm

Referee: Timmy McGrath (Limerick)

The Tipperary minor footballers will commence their 2025 Munster Championship campaign with a home bout against Waterford next Monday evening.

This season’s Munster Minor Football Championship is once again set to be structured in two phases, with Tipperary, Clare, Waterford, and Limerick contesting Phase 1 in a round-robin format. The top two teams in the group will then progress to the final where the winners will meet the losers of a quarter-final featuring Cork and Kerry, while the runners-up will meet the winners of that quarter-final.

Tipp coasted through Phase 1 in 2024, topping the group with three wins from three and amassing 5-37(52) in the process. However, they were bested by Clare in the Phase 1 final, and subsequently suffered a convincing loss to Kerry at the semi-final stage, ending their championship year before losing to Westmeath in the tier 3 All-Ireland Championship.

Portroe man Michael Donnellan is at once again at the helm this season, resuming his co-managerial position alongside Loughmore/Castleiney’s Shane Hennessy.

Donnellan praises the championship structure but does suggest certain tweaks which could be incorporated into Phase 2, which sees the top two teams face off against either Cork or Kerry in a knock-out semi-final.

“It’s a good structure, but I’ve said this for the last four years, in my opinion I think it’s still set up for a Cork-Kerry Munster final,” Donnellan says.

“With the under-20s, you have Phase 1, and that feeds into another round-robin group in Phase 2. I would prefer something similar to that because you know, as it is you’re always going to come up against either Kerry or Cork in a knockout game. Kerry is always going to be an uphill battle, but you might catch a Cork on a bad day, and suddenly you have a foot over the line.”

In terms of Tipp’s prospects this year, the Port man is feeling optimistic, but he does concede that it’s difficult to know where his side stand until they first taste competitive action.

With just three players from last year’s panel underage and available, this minor outfit will be largely composed of new faces, and hence the past few weeks have been about trialling players and solidifying a starting fifteen ahead of championship.

“We were in the Leinster League, and our performances were up and down,” he revealed.

“A couple of good games, a couple of bad ones. We’ve played Carlow, we’ve played a few other teams in challenge matches. Our performances weren’t hectic, but it’s hard to know because you can never really get true value in a challenge game.

“The priority is to give lads game time, to try and form a squad and to see if lads can step up to the plate. And then we’ve had lads with injuries, and we’ve been trying to work them back into it as well.”

Donnellan has been involved with Tipperary underage sides for the past four years, overseeing a variety of different age-groups. He is sanguine about Tipp’s future at senior level, praising manager Philly Ryan and referencing a number of players from the current under-20 squad who he feels could make a big impact in the years to come. Among the names he mentions are Ballina’s Charlie King, and St Patrick’s Daithi Hogan. Donnellan’s focus for now however, is firmly on the minors, who will open their campaign on Monday against Waterford, before an away clash against Limerick in Rathkeale on April 14th, followed by a home fixture against Clare in Templetuohy on April 28th.

Donnellan is enjoying his time in charge of this squad and believes the new rules are creating a more open, entertaining brand of football at all levels. Younger players are, he says, different in type nowadays and tend to be more robust physically. But there is still room for the deft corner-forward he feels, even though they are becoming less common.

“You have the big, tall unit of a young lad, but you also have lads with pace, and lads who might not have the height but have everything else - pace, power, the turn, everything,” he revealed.

Tipperary panel

PÀDRAIC O'BRIEN - AHERLOW

JAMES MURPHY - ARDFINNAN

DARRAGH BRESNAN - ARRAVALE ROVERS

STEPHEN RYAN - ARRAVALE ROVERS

DONNACHA MORGAN - BALLINA

LUKE MCKEOGH - BALLINA

DONNACHA REIDY - BALLYLOOBY/CASTLEGRACE

JACK KEARNEY - BALLYPOREEN

JASON KING - BALLYPOREEN

CORMAC MCINERNEY 0 CASHEL KING CORMACS

LIAM HOGAN - CJ KICHAMS MULLINHONE

NED O'MEARA - CJ KICHAMS MULLINHONE

KILLIAN SMITH - CLONMEL COMMERCIALS

DANIEL CHARLES - CLONMEL COMMERCIALS

DARA MAHER - CLONMEL COMMERCIALS

DYLAN MCCORMACK - CLONMEL OG

OISÌN O’REILLY - CLONMEL OG

RIAN GALKO - CLONMEL OG

RORY O’REILLY - CLONMEL OG

REUBEN GRACE - GALTEE ROVERS ST. PECAUNS

SEÀN BURKE - JK BRACKENS

ANDY WILLIAMS - KILLENAULE

CONOR FREANEY - KILSHEELAN/KILCASH

CHARLIE KENNEDY - KILURANE MCDONAGHS

SEÀN CLEARY - KNOCKAVILLA–DONASKEIGH KICKHAMS

AARON BRAZIL - LATTIN CULLEN

KILLIAN FITZGEARLD - LORRHA

AARON MCANDREW - MOYLE ROVERS

CILLIAN MORRISSEY - MOYLE ROVERS

CONOR HURLEY - MOYLE ROVERS

JAMES O'BRIEN - MOYLE ROVERS

OISÌN MCCARTHY - MOYLE ROVERS

MICHAEL CLEARY - NENAGH EIRE OG

CALUM MITCHELL - ROSCREA

SEAN GRIFFIN - UPPERCHURCH/DROMBANE