THE KILDARE PANEL for the upcoming O’Byrne Cup campaign has been released, with Daniel Flynn and Niall Kelly the big names not included in Cian O’Neill’s squad.
Powerful forward Flynn, who was nominated for an All-Star this year, has opted out of the Kildare squad next year to focus on finishing his Masters degree in accountancy at Maynooth University before he heads off travelling.
Kelly is currently travelling on a three-month trip but may yet return to the fold at some stage in 2019. The 39-man Lilywhites panel features 11 players from the All-Ireland winning U20 squad, including EirGrid footballer of the year Jimmy Hyland.
Meanwhile, Kildare Now reports that Kilkenny star Michael Fennelly has joined O’Neill’s backroom team as performance coach ahead of the new season. Back in October, Fennelly spoke about his eagerness to get involved with an inter-county team in some capacity.
Fennelly captained Ballyhale Shamrocks to the Leinster club hurling title yesterday, where they defeated Ballyboden St Enda’s in the final. He works as a lecturer at LIT in Sports Science and will replace Jason McGahan, who has taken up a role as the head of athletic development in Kerry.
Kildare begin their O’Byrne Cup campaign against Carlow in Newbridge on 15 December, with further games to follow against Offaly (20 December) and Westmeath (5 January).
Kildare’s O’Byrne Cup panel
Mark Donnellan
Aaron O’Neill
Peter Kelly
David Hyland
Mick O’Grady
Mark Hyland
Mark Dempsey
Mark Barrett
DJ Earley
John O’Toole
Eoin Doyle
Keith Cribbin
Cian O’Donoghue
Kevin Flynn
James Murray
Conor Hartley
David Malone
Jason Gibbons
Kevin Feely
Tommy Moolick
Fionn Dowling
Paschal Connell
Fergal Conway
Aaron Masterson
David Slattery
Paul Cribbin
Mark Sherry
Paddy Brophy
Eoghan O’Flaherty
Adam Tyrrell
Tony Archbold
Neil Flynn
Chris Healy
Jimmy Hyland
Padraig Nash
Ben McCormack
Brian McLaughlin
Padraig Fogarty
Kevin O’Callaghan.
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