Along with many other graduates of the All-Ireland U21 wins of and , the Newtownshandrum man was part of the senior victory and collected two further Celtic Crosses in as captain and The lack of further league success was not necessarily an impediment to championship performance but then plenty of the squad had the All-Ireland experience to call upon.
Win the league, put that to bed and go after the next one then. I think there's definitely something to be said about it. You have competitive games. Why not have a proper competitive match? That's my take. All counties have big panels now so every fella has game time.
It's ideal to blood fellas as well. That said, it is not something that can be taken as a guaranteed indicator of further silverware at senior.
When I started, you'd get out of minor at 18 so there was a chance you could be playing senior the following year at Now, the chances of that happening are slim, bar you're six foot three or four and fully grown. The carrot is in front of those young fellas to keep pushing at this and to try and get up to play senior. If they can win a minor or an U20 and they see that it's enjoyable and they're getting a lot out of it, they'll try an extra little bit to go on and play senior.
But it's the carrot that we have in front of them to try. Look, this is what's in front of you if you're good enough. I can assure you that Darragh is doing everything in training to get himself on the training panel first of all, and then the 26 after that. If you're good enough, you're big enough. If you're good enough, you're old enough.
