Kilkenny minors travel to Westmeath for Leinster bow on Saturday

The Kilkenny minor hurlers kick off their Leinster Championship camapign this Saturday afternoon when they travel to face Westmeath in Clonkill at 1pm.

Erin’s Own clubman Gordon Byrne is now in charge of the team as he takes over from Niall Bergin with further games against Galway and Wexford to come in the next few weeks. The Castlecomer native has experience of working with Kilkenny teams at underage level and understands the perils of working with 15 and 16 year-old players.

“I’ve been involved with the Celtic Challenge for the last two years which is effectively a Minor B team and it’s a great competition for developing players and keeping them in a system,” he said. “I spoke with Michael Fennelly when the position of minor manager came up and he was in favour of helping me along and himself and Sean Kelly have been of great assistance over the last few years.

“We forget at times how young the minor team is now at the Under-17 grade and we have nine lads who are still Under-16 this year on the panel so they are kids at the end of the day and we have to remember that too when we are pushing to get the best out of them.”

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The Cats have been placed in a group alongside Dublin and Laois but in a change to other years, all the games in the round-robin will cross with the other group and the top two on each side advancing to the semi-finals.

“The first fixture is always a banana skin and Westmeath will come into the game with competitive matches under their belt so there will be pressure on us to perform,” he said.

“I’ve seen them play a couple of times and they are managed by Ger Behan who is Freshford man and they also have eight dual players with football and if you look at Colaiste Mhuire, Mullingar in the schools competitions they competed well at the top tier. We then have Galway after that in Nowlan Park so we’re under no illusions of what is ahead of us but the lads are willing and ready to give it a good crack,” Byrne finished.

Kilkenny team to face Westmeath- Eoin O'Gorman (Carrickshock); Michael Meany (Clara), Sean Kavanagh (Dicksboro), Sean Corcoran (John Lockes); Paddy Grace (John Lockes), Jack Treacy (Dicksboro, Captain), Oliver Phelan (James Stephens); Matthew Corr (Danesfort), Padraic Meany (Clara); Robert Lacey (Dicksboro), Joe Dowling (Dicksboro), Jack Bolger (Barrow Rangers); James Kavanagh (Dicksboro), Ruairi Power (James Stephens), Brion Walsh (James Stephens).

Subs: Dylan Brennan (Young Irelands), Jamie Walsh (Bennettsbridge), Conn O'Neill Pembroke (Shamrocks Ballyhale), Daniel Lawlor (Barrow Rangers), Jack Stapleton (St Martin's), Max Edwards (John Lockes), Ross Phelan (Blacks and Whites), Sean Morrissey (John Lockes), Gary McHugh (Barrow Rangers)