History will be made in O'Connor Park in Tullamore tomorrow evening (Wednesday at 7.30pm) when Galway play Offaly in the quarter finals of the Leinster U21 Hurling Championship. It will be the first time ever that Galway will play in Leinster at U21 level, having always started the competition at All Ireland semi final stage. Offaly haven't won a Leinster U21 title since 2000 and have never won an All Ireland at this level, while Galway were unlucky to lose out to eventual champions Limerick in last year's All Ireland semi final by 2-23 to 2-19. Six of the Galway players who saw action in that U21 game last August are selected by Manager Tony Ward to start tomorrow evening, with no fewer than 9 of the All Ireland winning minor team of 2015 still involved with their county 3 years later.
The Galway U21 team to play Offaly is:
1. Eanna Murphy - Tommy Larkins
2. Ian O'Shea - Athenry
3. Fintan Burke (Capt) - St Thomas
4. Shane Bannon - Clarinbridge
5. Caelom Mulry - Abbeyknockmoy
6. Mark Hughes - Liam Mellows
7. Sean Loftus - Turloughmore
8. Thomas Monaghan - Craughwell
9. Jack Grealish - Gort
10. Sean Blehane - Ahascragh Fohenagh
11. Brian Concannon - Killimordaly
12. Ciannán Fahy - Ardrahan
13. Evan Niland - Clarinbridge
14. Ronan Murphy - Tommy Larkins
15. Kevin Cooney - Sarsfields
*Jack Coyne, Jack Fitzpatrick, Jack Canning (pictured above at the Championship launch) & Cian Sammon are on the injured list and Leaving Cert Students were not considered
Galway management: Tony Ward (Manager), Frannie Forde (Trainer), Cyril Donnellan, Fergal Healy, Stephen Creavan, Brendan Egan (Strength & Conditioning)
Ahead of tomorrow night's game, Galway manager Tony Ward has been speaking to Sean Walsh...
https://download-galwaybay.sharp-stream.com/Tony%20Ward%20Before%20Offaly.mp3
