Joe McDonagh Cup finalists Offaly's Cillian Kiely and Laois' Aaron Dunphy during a Joe McDonagh, Christy Ring, Nickey Rackard, Lory Meagher Cup Final media day at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile.
Saturday, June 8
Joe McDonagh Cup Final
Offaly v Laois, Croke Park, 3.30pm
Offaly have named four of the All-Ireland U20 Championship winning heroes in their senior team to play Laois in Saturday’s Joe McDonagh Cup Final.
Adam Screeney and Dan Bourke are named in the full-forward line, Donal Shirley at wing-back, and Cathal King at corner-back. Another All-Ireland winner, Colin Spain, is also part of the match-day panel.
There’s mixed news on the injury front for Laois. Mark Dowling hasn’t recovered in time from a dislocated elbow to feature in the match-day panel, but Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher and Martin Phelan are fit enough for a place on the subs bench.
Another talented forward, Willie Dunphy, is named on the bench too, and it’ll be interesting to see if Laois start as selected.
If they do, then they have some serious firepower to introduce when and if it’s required, with Ross King also having to make do with a substitute’s role.
Both teams have scored heavily throughout the campaign so there’s every chance that this game could be an exciting shoot-out.
Laois came out on top when they met in the round-robin phase thanks to a late charge on a day when Offaly were badly hurt by runs from deep by Patrick Purcell. Limiting his influence in the middle third will surely be high on their agenda.
Offaly will bring a big crowd on the back of last weekend’s All-Ireland win, and Laois manager Willie Maher has urged the county’s own supporters to also come out in their droves for what should be a great contest.
“I appeal to every man, woman and child in Laois to be there to support these fellas,” said Maher. “They have worked incredibly hard over the last eight months to get into this position and we need support, with the huge number of Offaly fans that are going to matches at the moment.
“I’m sure they will and they’ll get behind us as this team represents a lot of the hard working, skilful, hard, honest teams that Laois have had in the past.
“If it comes down to the last few minutes we’ll need people to help our players to summon that piece of energy to do the right thing at the right time.
“The players are really hungry for work and are pushing themselves to get back to Liam McCarthy hurling and that’s the prize on the 8th.”
LAOIS: Enda Rowland; Ian Shanahan, Ryan Mullaney, Diarmaid Conway; Liam O'Connell, Padraig Delaney, Tom Cuddy; Aidan Corby, Patrick Purcell; Fiachra C Fennell, Aaron Dunphy, David Dooley; James Duggan, Jer Quinlan, Tomás Keyes. Subs: Cathal Dunne, Donnchadh Hartnett, Padraic Dunne, Lee Cleere, John Lennon, Gearoid Lynch, Ross King, Willie Dunphy, Stephen Maher, Martin Phelan, Eric Killeen
OFFALY: Mark Troy; Ben Conneely, Ciaran Burke, Cathal King; David King, Cillian Kiely, Donal Shirley; Jason Sampson, Eimhin Kelly; Killian Sampson, Brian Duignan, Eoghan Cahill; Dan Bourke, Charlie Mitchell, Adam Screeney. Subs: Stephen Corcoran, Oisin Kelly, Sam Bourke, Colin Spain, Jack Clancy, Ross Ravenhill, Padraig Cantwell, Dara Maher , Luke Watkins, James Nally, Kieran Connors
