EirGrid All-Ireland U20 Football Championship semi-final: Kerry v Tyrone (Sunday, Portlaoise, 1pm, TG4)
A THIRD All-Ireland U20 Championship semi-final appearance in four seasons sees Tyrone face Kerry at Portlaoise tomorrow, chasing a breakthrough to finally get to that next level.
Ulster champions in 2019 and 2020, they fell at the penultimate hurdle in both campaigns, but they’re back to challenge again for a place in the decider.
Skipper Niall Devlin will lead his side into battle at O’Moore Park against a Kingdom side stacked with talented footballers and attacking firepower.
The Red Hands will fancy themselves in a tight finish, having come through a couple of cliff-hangers against Donegal and Cavan.
They came out on top in an extra-time semi-final thriller against Donegal at Celtic Park, before getting the better of the Breffni county by 0-11 to 0-10 in the final at Brewster Park.
Ruairi Canavan’s seven points made a huge contribution to that provincial triumph, and he will be looking to combine with Ciaran Bogue and Conor Cush in a potent attacking force tomorrow.
The midfield battle between Tyrone pair Michael McGleenan and Ruairi McHugh and Kerry’s Rory Murphy/Sean O’Brien axis will be crucial to the outcome.
Murphy and O’Brien were influential figures in their side’s Munster final win over Cork, when they came good in the second half to win by 1-11 to 0-7 at Tralee.
Front men Thomas O’Donnell and Dylan Geaney, along with playmaker Evan Looney, tormented the Rebels at Austin Stack Park, and represent a major challenge for Tyrone defenders Brian Conway, Michael Rafferty and Steve Donaghy.
Manager Paul Devlin, in his fifth year in the role, along with Dermot Carlin, has added treble All-Ireland winner Owen Mulligan to his backroom team, and the trio face their biggest challenge of the season to date.
Devlin accepted that a number of problem areas arose during the Ulster final, but feels his players can learn from a difficult encounter against Cavan.
“If you have nothing to work on, you’re in trouble, because if you go into a game thinking you have everything answered, you’ll always find something out. Lads and management always learn from tight games,” he said.
“It’s all down to the lads themselves, to go out and win the game against Kerry.
A Kerry side managed by former great Declan O’Sullivan has genuine strength in depth, and three subs who came off the bench in the Munster decider contributed six points between them.
But Tyrone boss Devlin is confident that the Ulster champions also have the necessary depth to help them through the vital late stages of a close contest.
“We have a lot of lads there on the bench that we’re using, that we can use depending on what way the game pans out,” he said.
“Gavin Potter has come in and got a lot of scores and set up scores, Cormac Devlin came in against Cavan and showed well for the ball, I thought he had a good ten or twelve minutes, really linked well with the play and helped to set up scores.
“It’s about when you bring them in, and who’s ready to go in.”
In the other semi-final, Sligo face Kildare in Kingspan Breffni on Saturday afternoon (4pm). Kildare edged out Dublin 0-17 to 0-15 in the Leinster final last month while Sligo took the Connacht title after a final victory over Mayo for their first ever provincial title at this or the U21 grade.
