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Kerry keep faith with same starting 15 for All-Ireland U-20 semi-final against Meath

There is just one change among the Kerry substitutes in the match day 24 to face the Royal county

The Kerry squad that faced Cork in the Munster U20 Football Championship Final shows just one change - in the substitutes - to the squad that will play Meath in Saturday's All-Ireland semi-final

Paul Brennan
© Kerryman

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Kerry management have kept faith with the same 15 that started and won last week’s Munster Under-20 Football Championship final against Cork to take to the field again for Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final against Meath.

Following that 1-15 to 0-12 win over the Rebels eight days ago in Tralee, manager Tomás Ó Sé has named the same starting team to face the Royals on Saturday, as Kerry aim to reach the county’s first All-Ireland final at the U-20 / U-21 grade since 2008.

Since that 2008 All-Ireland title success – managed by another West Kerry man, Sean Geaney from Dingle – Kerry have been in five All-Ireland semi-finals and have lost all five.

Kerry went nine years after 2008 without evening winning the Munster title, and when they did eventually win the provincial title in 2017 they were beaten by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Since then they have been beaten at the All-Ireland semi-final stage in 2018 by Kildare, 2020 by Galway again, in 2022 by Tyrone and last year – under Ó Sé’s management – by Sligo.

Meath won the All-Ireland minor championship three years ago, and are managed by Cathal Ó Bric, the man who led them to that minor success in 2021, and this Royals teams will be no pushover for a fairly young Kerry side.

In Leinster, Meath started with a win over Westmeath (0-18 to 2-5), before losing to Dublin (0-13 to 1-7), a result that put them into a quarter-final against Laois, who they beat by 4-8 to 1-10. In the semi-final Meath beat defending All-Ireland champions Kildare 2-9 to 0-10, and then in the Leinster final Louth were well beaten by 3-13 to 0-12.

Aside from sticking with the same starting 15 for Saturday’s semi-final, there is just one change to the substitutes, with Liam Evans from Keel named in place of Shane Evans.

Kerry team to play Meath: Michael Tansley; Maidhcí Lynch, Dara O’Callaghan, Gearóid Evans; Charlie Keating, Darragh O’Connor, Cian Lynch; Robert Stack, Eddie Healy; Daniel Kirby, Odhran Ferris, Tomás Kennedy; Luke Crowley, Aidan Crowley, Cormac Dillon.

Subs: James Hoare, Adam Segal, Cathal Brosnan, Fionn Murphy, Ryan Diggin, Evan Boyle, Paddy Lane, Ian O’Sullivan, Shane Evans.

ALL-IRELAND UNDER-20 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

Kerry v Meath

Saturday, May 11

Semple Stadium, Thurles at 3pm