Under 20s 2023

Is James Harris still with Leinster rugby ? A stand out for the minors last year, great to see him still involved

really_unofficial_kildare wrote:

Seems like Dublin top the group after we both beat Kerry by 3, both scored 3 goals in total but Dublin scored 14 points against Dublin to our 12. Now that is unfortunate. Dublin beat Kerry in Parnell Park and we beat them in Killarney.

Dublin topping the group on the basis of scoring more is a tough one alright. As we were the only group of 3 teams there was a provision made at the start whereby the teams finishing 2nd and 3rd in our group would playoff against each other to give them a 3rd game similar to all the other teams had. Not sure if there'd be any appetite to play Kerry again but considering the Leinster Championship is due to get under way in 3 weeks it might be better than another challenge game.

So fixtures are confirmed for the group games in Leinster.

Tuesday 21st home to Westmeath in Hawkfield.
Tuesday 28th away to Wexford in Wexford Park.

Winner of the group plays the runner up in Group 1 (Carlow, Laois, Longford, Meath). Runner up in the group plays the runner up in Group 2 (Dublin, Louth, Offaly, Wicklow). Quarter final takes place on the 11th of April, with the semi final the week after and final the week after that.

With the amount of players left over from last years squad and the good performances against Kerry and Dublin it’s not unreasonable to think we should be looking towards a Leinster semi final at least here. Open draw for the semi-finals, Meath potentially with a strong team after winning the minor All Ireland in 2021 might be the one to watch out for in the other groups.

srg hartman wrote:

Is James Harris still with Leinster rugby ? A stand out for the minors last year,  great to see him still involved

I was asking about him at the weekend and it seems he is very much still with Leinster Rugby. The lads I spoke to also said that his best position is centre forward and is "Wasted in the backs". Seemed to me like a natural half back and did well at midfield when he came in against Dublin. A future half back line of him and James McGrath would be something to look forward to. All depends how he gets on with rugby going forward I suppose.

Strong team named. Best of luck to the lads tomorrow evening.

Beat kerry away, draw with dublin , then beaten by westmeath who had 14 men for 20 minutes of the first half.........

Away to Wexford this night week. Win or season over!

Thats the difference with challenge type games ,tonight was championship different animal

Louth away in quarters this night week. Most likely in Castlebellingham which I think is Dundalk. Meath-Westmeath in other quarter, with Dublin and Laois into semi-finals. Think if ourselves and Meath were to win it'd mean we'd get Laois but that's getting ahead of ourselves big time.

Will the Louth match be streamed anywhere this evening?

Getting to Dundalk could be a nightmare tonight with the Joe Biden visit.

Hard to know how to gauge Louth but after drawing with Offaly, beating Wicklow by a point and getting a hammering off Dublin you’d imagine it’s a good chance to make the Leinster semi where hopefully we get drawn out against Laois. Match is in Stabannon where Louth have played both their home games already this year, about half way between Drogheda and Dundalk.

Team named for tonight away to Louth as follows;

1 Cormac Barker
2 Harry O’Neill
3 Ryan Burke
4 Tim Ryan
5 James Harris
6 James McGrath
7 Jack McKevitt
8 Luke Killian
9 Shane Farrell
10 Colm Dalton
11 Niall Dolan
12 Callum Bolton
13 Adam Fanning
14 Ryan Sinkey
15 Oisin O’Sullivan

Subs; 16 David McPartlin, 17 Tomas Von Engelbrechten, 18 Ethan Mountaine, 19 Fionn O’Giollain, 20 Daire Guerin, 21 Sean Hanafin, 22 Fionn Cooke, 23 Killian Browne, 24 Eoin Cully

Best of luck to the lads tonight.

Good luck to the lads

Match venue changed to the Louth Centre of Excellence in Darver.

Hopefully better parking than Hawkfield...

Game on here for €12 if anyone interested. Hadn't heard of site before so no idea of quality.
https://clubber.ie/

Very poor first half, gifted Louth their scores by messing around at the back with short kick outs. Defence is closing them down and limiting their chances fairly well from open play in fairness, for all the possession Louth are having inside the 45 they're not creating anything with it.

Simple mistakes killing us going forward with misplaced passes happening too often.

Wind seems to have died down as the half went on which might help in the second half as Louth look to have a height advantage in the full forward line.

Ground it out well in the end, Louth for all the possession looked afraid to shoot at times. Gifted them a goal giving away possession cheaply in midfield but kicked the next few points to recover well.

Fair play to whoever parked up behind the goal Louth were shooting into in the second half, left the headlights on full beam for a good 10 minutes.

Close call. Good to get win but this whole campaign feels like hanging on. Looking at results, (Dublin thrashed that Louth, Meath beat Westmeath who beat us, and Laois beat Meath well) you'd imagine we could be weakest of the four left but at least we are there. According to Leinster Council it's an open draw, with semi-finals next Monday night. I guess you'd want Hawkfield v Meath.

Laois away in semis.

Have we no home venue

We had home advantage against them in a knockout game last year, their turn this time, nothing more to it than that.

Would have a bit of sympathy for the management, certain players that they probably expected to be starters haven't been going well and if Killian is out, they'll be up against it the next day. Interesting that McPartlin is on the bench as sub-keeper after not being in the original panel. After last night, it might be time to parachute him in. On the plus side they dug out a result in un-Kildare like fashion last night and if Laois go with a sweeper like last week and make it a bit of a tactical battle it might suit us.

Best of luck to the panel and management against Laois.... We have been in 6 of the last 15 finals at this grade winning 4 so have been knocking at the door on a regular basis.

Its a big ask to win it this year based on how the season has gone but with the right attitude and a big performance theres another leinster final appearance in these lads.

Best of luck. Cill Dara Abu

Best of luck lads put the 'piss on the powders' back in their box!!!

2 changes for the team from last week, Tomas Von Engelbrechten into the full back line instead of Tim Ryan and Fionn Cooke in midfield to replace Luke Killian. Team names as follows;

1 Cormac Barker
2 Harry O’Neill
3 Tomas Von Engelbrechten
4 Ryan Burke
5 James Harris
6 James McGrath
7 Jack McKevitt
8 Fionn Cooke
9 Shane Farrell
10 Colm Dalton
11 Callum Bolton
12 Niall Dolan
13 Ryan Sinkey
14 Adam Fanning
15 Oisin O’Sullivan

Subs; 16 David McPartlin, 17 Tim Ryan, 18 Ethan Mountaine, 19 Fionn O’Giollain, 20 Daire Guerin, 21 Ciaran Flanagan, 22 Killian Browne, 23 Sam Savage, 24 Eoin Cully

Match is live on TG4’s YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@SportTG4/featured