7. Cork defender Brian O’Driscoll does not have to look too far to be informed of U21 football experiences. Four years ago when Cork last won the All-Ireland title at this grade, O’Driscoll’s older brothers Colm and Kevin were both on the winning team. Colm was at wing-forward and scored the injury-time winning goal while Kevin played at midfield.
6. Speaking on the family theme, Cortoon Shamrocks duo Paul and Adrian Varley will be hoping to join a select club of All-Ireland winning twins tonight. Paul starts at left half-back while Adrian is selected at full-forward.
5. Who’s going to shine in the scoring stakes this evening? To date in this campaign it has been Brian Hurley (1-14 – 0-5f) and Dan McEoin (0-16 – 0-9f) who have been to the fore for the Rebels while for Galway, Shane Walsh has caught the eye as he has racked up 0-23 with twelve of those points from frees.
4. Three years ago Cork faced Galway in an amazing All-Ireland minor semi-final. Galway lead by 5-6 to 2-6 at one stage in that Croke Park clash but Cork fought back and ran out winners by 3-15 to 5-8.
From the Cork team that started in that game – David Hanrahan, Tomas Clancy, Jamie Wall, Damien Cahalane, John O’Rourke, Alan Cronin, Mark Sugrue and Brian Hurley – are all named in tonight’s U21 starting fifteen while Dan McEoin came on as a substitute in that tie in 2010. The Galway survivors are James Shaughnessy, Paul Varley, Mark Loughnane, Tom Flynn and Fiontan O Curraoin while Daithi Burke and Adrian Varley both came on as substitutes in that match.
Cork’s Brian Hurley scores a goal in the 2010 All-Ireland minor semi-final.
Pic: INPHO/Lorraine O’Sullivan
3. Galway captain Fiontan O Curraoin and his midfield partner Tom Flynn both already have All-Ireland medals in their back pockets. The pair were midfield on the Galway side that defeated Cavan by 2-16 to 1-9 in the 2011 All-Ireland U21 final.
Recent players who have collected two All-Ireland U21 medals are Dublin’s Gary Sweeney and Ciaran Redden who won in 2010 and 2012 while Cork’s Colm O’Neill won in 2007 and 2009.
2. Cork boss John Cleary is quite proficient when it comes to winning medals in the U21 football grade. Between roles as a player, selector and manager with Rebels teams, he has been involved with three All-Ireland winning teams and 10 Munster winning sides.
All-Ireland: player (1984), selector (2007), manager (2009).
Munster: player (1982 and 1984), selector (2004-2007), manager (2009, 2011-2013).
1. Peadar Og O Gríofa was a thorn in the Cork defence when he lined out in the Galway attack in the 2010 All-Ireland minor semi-final. But he tore his cruciate ligament before the start of this year’s campaign ruling him out of the plans for Alan Flynn’s U21 squad.
