Cork U20s set for championship rehearsal with Waterford

On what could be a pivotal weekend in terms of the U20 grade, Cork will continue their preparations with a warm-up match that will serve as a championship rehearsal.

Having played Kilkenny at Blackrock’s grounds a fortnight ago, Ben O’Connor’s team will again clash with the county that the senior side are facing in Allianz Hurling League action. Their game against their Waterford counterparts will act as the curtain-raiser for Sunday’s main event at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, with the games starting at 1.45pm and 3.45pm respectively.

O’Connor and his selectors – Ger O’Regan, Ronan Curran, Terence McCarthy and William Biggane – have named a 36-player squad for the upcoming campaign, which begins away to the Déise on Friday, April 5.

There are a total of 26 clubs represented in the panel. It includes eight of starters from last year’s All-Ireland final win – captain Darragh O’Sullivan of Ballinhassig, vice-captain James Dwyer, Tadhg O’Connell (both Ballincollig), William Buckley (St Finbarr’s), Diarmuid Healy (Lisgoold), Ross O’Sullivan (Na Piarsaigh), Jack Leahy (Dungourney) and David Cremin (Midleton) – while Eoin O’Leary of Glen Rovers and Darragh O’Sullivan’s brother Adam appeared as substitutes that day.

In essence, Cork are undertaking a double defence of the All-Ireland as many of the players involved won the equivalent All-Ireland minor title three years ago, beating Waterford by 11 points in that Munster final. Of the four games played to win the county’s first Irish Press Cup in two decades, Cork’s smallest winning margin was ten points.

By the time Sunday’s match starts, the rules around eligibility regarding U20 players at senior level should be clearer, following a motion at this weekend’s annual GAA Congress.

Cork have proposed that U20s considered good enough to play for their county’s senior team should be facilitated in being allowed to line out at both levels, once there is a gap of least 60 hours between the respective matches.

Last year, players were limited from playing one grade or the other within a seven-day period.

Initially, a Wexford motion for Congress was passed which specified a timeframe from Friday morning to the following Thursday evening; later, Central Council changed it to a rolling week.

Ultimately, it meant that Eoin Downey was precluded from appearing in two of Cork’s U20 matches as he was part of Pat Ryan’s senior side. He was, however, able to play in the All-Ireland final over Offaly as the senior team had been eliminated from the championship by that stage.

It is unlikely that any of this year’s Cork U20s will be pressed into senior action – indeed, Waterford could be one of the main beneficiaries as star attacker Patrick Fitzgerald would be able to play senior and U20 – but having clearer and fairer regulations should make things easier in the future.

Against Kilkenny, Cork lost out by 2-22 to 1-20, with William Buckley scoring seven points while Jack Leahy got six and Ross O’Sullivan accounted for 1-3.