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Kerry's Brilliant Minors Are Outshining Their Senior Team At The Moment

Kerry's Brilliant Minors Are Outshining Their Senior Team At The Moment
Vincent Whelan
By Vincent Whelan
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Sunday was a high-scoring day in the GAA Championship overall as Kerry and Cavan's minors set the tone for what was a brilliant day's action in the first Electric Ireland Minor Championship semi-final.

In spite of miserable conditions on a damp, dark day, Croke Park was illuminated by some free-flowing attacking football, particularly from Kerry as they ran out 2-22 to 2-10 winners.

The Kingdom have been suitably lording it over the Minor Championship for the past few years as they will now be going for their fourth title in a row when they face the winner of Dublin/Derry, who will meet on Sunday.

They dominate the nominations for this week's Electric Ireland Minor Player of the Week as they look in imperious form ahead of the showpiece game on September 17th.

You can cast your ballot every week on Electric Ireland's Facebook page, and get involved in the conversation through #GAAThisIsMajor.

 

David Clifford - Kerry

Clifford's scintillating form continued in earnest as he tallied 1-10(3f) in a performance where he was close to unplayable.

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The Fossa man's physical presence was too much for the couple of Cavan defenders who marked him over the course of the game. Kerry's first instinct was to let the ball in long into the 18 year old and he came up trumps in almost every aerial tussle.

His goal came from one such long ball where he caught it, brushed past his man before slotting home. It was a carbon copy of a previous passage of play which was well saved by the Cavan goalkeeper less than two minutes prior to that.

While his size might initially lead one to assume that his game is entirely based on bullying smaller defenders, he demonstrated a wide variety of silky skills too as he struck several beautiful points from play with effortless left-footed strikes.

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James Smith - Cavan

Cavan put up a good fight with no small amount of quality either. This was personified by the performance of James Smith.

Already a recipient of a Minor Player of the Week award, the Crosserlough man scored 1-02 from midfield and instigated a mini-revival in the second half which closed the gap on Kerry to five at one point.

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His goal was particularly inspirational as he caught a long ball into the Kerry box on the run as he surged from midfield before calmly slotting it past the keeper.

While his and Cavan's campaign is now over, there is a lot to look back on with pride from an individual and team point of view.

This Cavan side have come through the back door after making the Ulster final in as compelling a fashion imaginable, overcoming deficits of four and five points against Monaghan and Down respectively along the way.

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This was only setting the scene for their most incredible comeback, however, as in the quarter-final versus Galway, at one point they were as much as 11 points down.

That heart as well as quality was on display again on Sunday as they had plenty of moments versus the three time defending champions where they caused problems.

 

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Brian Friel - Kerry

Another clinical scoring display from the Kerry frontline came through Brian Friel. A corner-forward from Rathmore, Friel has been a live-wire throughout Kerry's successful Munster campaign as well as in their two knock-out matches this Championship.

He has scored in all five of their matches so far, including a haul of 0-4 this week against Cavan.

Like Clifford, Friel was also a key contributor on last year's All-Ireland winning side. They are two of four members of the panel that have already tasted All-Ireland victory at minor level.

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That experience should stand them and the team as a whole in good stead with the centrepiece game now on the horizon.

Having booked their place in the final, they have already made a bit of history as no minor side has ever advanced to four finals in a row before.

You can cast your vote for your Minor Player of the Week nominees every week on Electric Ireland's Facebook page.

 

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