KILKENNY’S STATUS AS hurling’s aristocrats was reaffirmed again yesterday when St Kieran’s claimed yet another Croke Cup title.
They achieved their latest triumph with another defensive masterclass from captain Tommy Walsh – a Tullaroan club man who is no relation to the nine time Allstar winner.
The victory was Walsh’s third successive All-Ireland crown with the Kilkenny hurling nursery as they saw off Ardscoil Rís.
Graigue-Ballycallan’s Colum Prendiville, who has represented Ireland at underage basketball before, also made a notable impact since turning his attention to hurling.
Star attackers Adrian Mullen and Joe Cuddihy received special praise from St Kieran’s mentor Liam Smith.
“These group of lads have won nothing since when they were under U14. We won the U14 league and then we didn’t win another league or championship or anything since then.
“They were getting better and better as time went on. Joe Cuddihy got man of the match. He is brilliant. He is actually a genius.
“We knew we had the players, we knew we had the talent. Adrian Mullen is only a kid, goalkeeper last year, only 16. An incredible hurler.
“Colum will probably go back to basketball after the summer but he wanted to give hurling a shot and you saw him today. He’s a big fella anyway but the more hurling he does, the better he gets.
“He’s an All-Ireland medal and he’s only in 5th year.”
Smith was delighted to see the school’s famous hurling tradition maintained and also paid tribute to vanquished Ardscoil Rís who lost out to St Kieran’s in a decider for the third time in seven years.
“We have a front corridor, any famous past pupil that went to the school and so is on the wall. Now, we have 21 All-Ireland winning pictures up.
“That is where they want to be and these guys have the ability to be up there as well, to be some of the best that we have seen in a long time.
“Ardscoil Rís, to be fair to them, are a fabulous team. They have been the pace-setters all year.
“We knew they were the ones to beat, but we knew we had they had a chance of beating them.”
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