We don't care what the weather is like outside: summer officially arrived in Ireland last week when the Electric Ireland Minor Championship kicked off with a handful of Munster minor preliminary matches. These matches mean that the GAA championship has launched in full. With Kerry chasing a truly historic fifth Electric Ireland MFC win in a row, there's a lot at stake this summer, and the first round of Munster preliminaries provided an intriguing insight into how the summer may evolve.
These matches also threw up some big scorelines from Munster's best U17 forwards. Here's the shortlist for the Electric Ireland Minor footballer of the week.
Aodhán Ó Luasa (Cork)
Kerry have dominated the Electric Ireland Minor football championship this decade, but it was their old rivals Cork who laid down the biggest marker of the Munster preliminary stages with a 4-20 to 0-5 win over Waterford in Pairc Ui Rinn last Wednesday. The Cork blitzkrieg was lead by full forward Aodhán Ó Luasa who finished with an impressive 1-5 to his name. The Naomh Abán man was the top scorer for the Rebels, scoring 1-3 from play with two frees, including the lovely slicing free from the left here.
Fuair Aodhán Ó Luasa 1-5 v @WaterfordGAA Féach ar réalta nua an todhchaí don gcéad uair ar #GAA2018 gach Luan ar @SportTG4
Top scorer for @OfficialCorkGAA Aodhán Ó Luasa in action-see the stars of the future first every Monday on #GAA2018 at 8pm on #TG4 @ElectricIreland pic.twitter.com/G3mWsSX3Up— GAA 2022 (@GAA_2022_TG4) April 13, 2018
Ó Luasa will need another massive performance if Cork are going to have a chance of defeating Kerry in their Electric Ireland minor match on May 8 in Tralee.
Paul Walsh (Kerry)
The Kerry assembly line at minor level simply does not sleep. The Kingdom is eyeing an incredible Electric Ireland Minor Football Championship 5-in-a-row, and though the likes of David Clifford and co have moved on, Kerry looked as dangerous as ever in defeating Tipp in their Munster curtainraiser last week, which was their 25th win in a row at the grade.
Dangerman on the night for Kerry was Brosna's Paul Walsh, who scored 1-3. Starting at right corner forward, Walsh converted a decisive penalty and did all of the work in kicking this hard-earned point.
Alive & kicking! Níl deireadh fós le h’úsáid an bhróg @Kerry_Official
Top scorer Paul Walsh with the point.
Féach ar na buaicphointí v @TipperaryGAA ag 20.00 ar @SportTG4 @MunsterGAA Highlights at 8pm on #TG4 #kerry pic.twitter.com/HzghRHt8s6— GAA 2022 (@GAA_2022_TG4) April 16, 2018
Credit also to Walsh for his wonderful head of hair. We hope to see other minor footballers rise to the challenge of his hair game.
Shane Meehan (Clare)
For six years in a row now, Clare have defeated Limerick in the Munster minor championship. Front and centre in Clare's win this year was Shane Meehan of the Banner club, who ran riot on the Limerick defence. Meehan scored 1-6 on the match with 1-5 of that coming in the first 30 minutes of the match, as the Bannermen put the game away early. According to the Clare Champion 'Meehan’s movement and ball retention was brilliant as was his finishing'. Clare were 3-13 to 2-09 winners on the night and though the big dogs in Munster lie in wait, they can take heart knowing that they have an emerging marksman in the #14 shirt.
The 4 Banner GAA club players, part of the Clare Minor football panel that beat Limerick by 3-13 to 2-09 in Cusack Park tonight
Eoin Walsh, Shane Meehan, Chiby Okoye and Mark Cleary . Congrats to the Clare panel & Mgt, and to our 4 lads . An Clar Abu , An Bratach Inis Abu pic.twitter.com/JeHxPFM6kM— Banner GAA Ennis (@BannerGAAEnnis) April 11, 2018
Have your say and cast your vote for the player of the week nominees on Electric Ireland's Facebook page by clicking here. All nominated players will be in with a chance of making overall team/player of the year at the 2018 Electric Ireland GAA Minor Star Awards.
