Lynskey is relieved U20 title race has got the green light

COUNTY U20 hurling manager Jeffrey Lynskey says it would have been a travesty if this year’s crop of Galway players did not see competitive action, given they had missed out on the minor grade when it changed from U18 to U17 three years ago.

With Galway confirmed to face Laois in the Leinster quarter-final on Tuesday, October 27 –the winner to meet Kilkenny in the semi-final – Lynskey is delighted the class of 2020 will get to wear the maroon and white in a mainstream championship.

“This age group, in particular, are the same age group that lost out in minor. So, they would have lost out for a second time on the age (if there was no competition) and that would have been unfortunate for them,” he states.

“So, in terms of their own development, they probably need something to look forward to and to be given the opportunity. Again, it is important for those lads. You have a core group that has missed out on minor (U18) in 2017 so, at least, hopefully, if this championship goes ahead, they will get the opportunity to wear a Galway jersey.”

Lynskey is also pleased his squad has the chance of playing a quarter-final fixture, particularly given Galway’s troubles last year when they went in cold into their provincial semi-final against Kilkenny. In contrast, the Cats had a game against Laois under their belt and they looked much sharper as a result.

“Yeah, we know the value of that from last year. It’s huge. Obviously, we wouldn’t want to be taken Laois or Carlow for granted and we will need to prep for that properly. We will probably have one or two challenge games against the seniors and we will speak to Shane (O’Neill) about that.

“We are also playing on a Tuesday (evening in October) so we will have to get used to playing under lights and that will be the case for all the teams as a lot of the games are going to be played midweek under lights. So, the daylight stuff won’t be of much use to them.”

No doubt, for an U20 or minor county team to be playing championship hurling into the For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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