St Kieran’s College will aim to win an incredible fourth Croke Cup title on the spin this Saturday when they take on Our Lady’s Templemore at 4pm in Semple Stadium.
It’s been a richly successful period for the famed school and as always a huge amount of high calibre players have passed through the gates of the school in recent years.
Thankfully there are still a good few eligible inside the gates this year too and there have been some real key performers throughout their campaign.
I saw Kieran’s against Borris Vocational School in the Leinster Quarter Final and I think they will be the first to admit that they survived a big scare for the second year in a row.
However when I watched them take on Kilkenny CBS in the Leinster Final I was very impressed. In fact you wouldn’t think it was the same team that had played a few weeks before hand.
That day I thought Martin Keoghan, Michael Carey and Tommy Ronan were outstanding at the back and I make that judgement on how well they were Hurling as opposed to what their surnames are.
Then of course you have prolific forward Adrian Mullen up front who looks to be destined for the big stage, and Ciaran Brennan might not be too far behind although whether that will be on a Hurling field or a Soccer pitch is another story.
So what about Templemore?
I can tell you that they are a class outfit. Brian McGrath – younger brother of Noel & John – is the leading light from centre forward and he has hurled at centre back too with his county so it will be interesting to see where he actually does line out on Saturday.
Andrew Ormonde is a dangerous forward who has a keen eye for goal but there is genuine class all over the field.
I am really looking forward to this one and I think it could be a classic. Not so sure which way it will go but it will be close.
We have Live Commentary of the game on air and online from 4pm Saturday with thanks to Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel
