Last September, during the course of an interview on the All-Ireland senior hurling championship structure, Antrim’s Terence McNaughton offered the view that “Hurling is in trouble”. However, the fare on offer in the 2009 minor and under-21 championships would certainly seem to point in the opposite direction. In An Moltóir’s view, both of these championships were possibly the best ever, in terms of the number of counties in genuine contention and the quality of contests provided. In other words, 2009 was a Golden Year for intercounty underage hurling.

Taking the minor championship first, in Munster Clare beat Waterford by a controversial last-minute point in the first qualifying round while in the second round, the Déise only managed to get the better of Limerick through a fortunate last-gasp goal direct from a sideline puck. In their semi-final, Clare dominated the first half against Waterford, only for the latter to emerge a transformed team for the second half to clinch a final place. In the other semi-final, it took a replay for Tipperary to see off Cork after the two had drawn the first game in a rip-roaring high-scoring affair. Tipp went into the Munster final as hot favourites but, in a high-quality game, they had to give second best to a well-organised and well-coached Waterford team which produced some excellent hurling.

Things were not nearly as tight in Leinster, which Kilkenny won with ease, yet the team which they beat comfortably in the final, Wexford, were only edged out through an injury-time point by Tipperary in the All-Ireland quarter final. Tipp, in turn, were themselves edged out by the Cats in a very good semi-final while in the other semi-final, a very impressive Galway side got the better of Waterford in a high-skill encounter.

The All-Ireland final between Galway and Kilkenny was rather overshadowed by the might senior final which followed, but in itself it was a superb contest. Galway dominated the first half but were put on the back foot by a resurgent Kilkenny in the third quarter. However, Galway showed their mettle by regaining the upper hand in the last ten minutes to close out a fine victory. What was notable about this performance was the number of Galway players who showed leadership qualities when the going got tough in the likes of fullbacks Johnny Coen and Dáithí Burke, centre back Brian Flaherty and especially left half back Joseph Cooney, midfielder Davy Glennon and, in the forwards, Richie Cummins and youngster Shane Moloney who displayed tremendous bottle when asked to take over the free-taking duties late in the game. The Tribesmen also showed depth of talent in the quality of the second-half substitutes which they produced. An Moltóir reckons that this was a Galway team of exceptional quality which could give future senior teams the kind of leaders which have been sadly lacking since the great team of the late 1980s.

The under-21 championship was, if anything, even better than its minor counterpart. In the first round in Munster, it took extra time for championship favourites Tipperary to edge out Cork, but they fell at the next hurdle to an excellent Waterford side in Dungarvan in a very good contest. Clare had an easy enough win over Limerick in the other semi-final, paving the way for an historic night in Dungarvan when the Banner captured their first Munster title at this level in an epic game against the home side. This was a game which, on the overall balance of play, could have gone either way. Waterford could have put the game out of sight in the early stages, which they dominated completely, only to send several goal chances begging. Clare came back into the game and built up a good lead thanks mainly to a brace of goals from Darach Honan (the second a superb effort) and then defended tremendously as Waterford threw the kitchen sink at them in the closing stages.

In Leinster, Kilkenny again emerged as champions, but not nearly as comfortably as at minor level. It took a late surge to fight off a serious Offaly challenge by three points, with the margin being one point more in a high-scoring provincial decider against Dublin. The All-Ireland semi-final between Clare and Galway was an enthralling score fest with Joe Canning once again finding himself on the losing side despite a personal tally which would, on its own, have won most matches. The Banner demonstrated great commitment and self-belief in this game which again confirmed Darach Honan’s status as one of the outstanding future prospects in the game.

The All-Ireland final between Clare and Kilkenny was a superb contest which did not get the media coverage it deserved. For most hurling aficionados it was a more compelling game than that between Clare and Galway, with defences dominating and scores very hard to come by in a very tight affair which demanded character. And Clare produced this quality in spades. One must compliment their management who sent them out once again with a very positive mindset as they drove at Kilkenny, demonstrating outstanding hurling skills and rigorous application of a predetermined game plan in the process. This game plan was all about getting early ball into their full forward line, although on this occasion the response from Darach Honan in particular was not what Clare had hoped for. Going into the game with an injury, Honan did mount a serious threat on several occasions in the first half, and was unlucky on one occasion to see his shot come back off the Kilkenny goalkeeper’s foot. However, a heavy tackle just on half time appeared to knock the remaining stuffing out of him and thereafter he was reduced to a peripheral figure.

Effectively shorn of their scoring talisman, Clare responded marvellously, with leadership coming from numerous quarters, including Nicky O’Connell, the O’Donovans, John Conlon, Colin Ryan and a superb fullback trio. Nevertheless, the Banner were still finding it hard to contain a very good Kilkenny team, with Richie Hogan justifying all the hype about him that had been generated down by the Nore. However, it was notable that as the game came down to the wire, it was the Kilkenny men who blinked, missing two handy scoring chances which would have put them in a very strong position. By contrast, John Conlon showed his bottle when landing two great points from much more difficult positions to bring Clare right back into the game. Colin Ryan then landed a super long-range free before Donovan showed what this Clare team was all about when driving forward before driving over the winning score from 60 metres.

In 2008, the Clare seniors were somewhat unfortunate to lose both the Munster final against Tipperary and the All-Ireland qualifier against Cork in two high-quality games. At the time, this column noted how Clare had brought some very good players into the team in the previous couple of years and if they could supplement these with three or four more, they could be serious championship contenders once again. Since then, things went rather pear-shaped as Mike McNamara’s management ship hit the rocks, but the long-term outlook must be very good given the quality apparent in the under-21s, with a couple of good-looking minors also on the horizon.

Overall, therefore, it was a vintage year for under-age hurling. In both the minor and under-21 championships there were eight counties which, at the very least, gave good accounts of themselves. And they were not the same eight counties, with Offaly and Dublin putting in good efforts at under-21, at which level Limerick and Wexford did not do as well as at minor level. Thus we had ten counties in all which had reason to be satisfied to a greater or lesser extent with the performances of their underage teams during the year. Of course underage success is no guarantee of senior follow-through, but the evidence suggests that good development work continues to be done within the strong hu