Meath's Sean Kelly and Pat Critchley of Laois will lead the Leinster footballers and hurlers respectively in the upcoming Inter-Provincial series.
Leinster GAA Chairman John Horan announced that the Leinster hurlers, and reigning Inter-Provincial champions, will be managed by Critchley and he will be assisted by Ciaran Hetherton from Dublin and Wicklow’s Don Hyland.
The Leinster footballers will be managed by former Royals coach and selector Kelly. His selectors will be Johnny Doyle from Kildare and Offaly’s Vinny Claffey.
The 2015 edition of the GAA Inter-Provincial Championship will take place across the weekend of December 5 and 6.
The hurling competition will be staged in Pearse Stadium in Galway, with Leinster taking on Munster in the semi-final.
The football semi-finals will take place in Newry on 5 December, with the final in Armagh on 6 December. Leinster’s football semi-final will also be against Munster.
Former Dunderry footballer Kelly played for Meath during the Sean Boylan era. A highly-rated coach, he was more recently a selector and coach with both Eamonn O’Brien and Mick O’Dowd.
Claffey from Doon was a sensational corner forward on the Offaly team that was the last Faithful County side to win the Leinster SFC back in 1997, and won Offaly’s first and only league title a year later. He made 132 senior appearances for Offaly between league and championship from 1986 to 2003.
Allenwood’s Doyle has been an inspirational servant for Kildare football and a leading forward in the modern game in a career stretching from 2000 to 2014. He is a holder of a Leinster SFC medal from 2000 and an All-Star from 2010.
Portlaoise dual-star Critchley is regarded as one of the greatest hurlers ever to play for Laois. In 1985 he became the first Laois hurler to be awarded an All-Star. He has also given a lifetime of service to the coaching and development of Gaelic games in the O’Moore County.
Hetherton is a former Dublin hurler at all levels who won three Dublin SHC titles with Craobh Chiarain. He was a key member of the Anthony Daly Dublin hurling management team that in 2011 won a first league title since 1939, and then in 2013 captured a first Leinster SHC since 1961.
Hyland is a hurling hero from the Carnew Emmets club who, in 2002, was the first Wicklow man to win an Inter-Provincial hurling medal. He won seven county SHC titles and six Kehoe Cups and an All-Ireland Senior Hurling B Championship in 2003. In 2015 he was inducted into the Leinster GAA Hall of Fame.
