With two rounds of the Allianz Hurling League in the books, we've selected five young players who have already made an impact and could go on to bigger and better things this season.
Diarmuid Ryan (Clare)
Clare have great expectations for the younger brother of 2013 All-Ireland winner Conor.
Tall, strong and skilful, 19-year-old Ryan (pictured above) is a direct runner who is equally at home in the half-back, midfield or half-forward lines.
He scored an average of 0-04 per game from play in Clare’s Munster Hurling League successful and has played all 140 minutes of the Banner’s Allianz Hurling League campaign so far.
The Cratloe man banked 0-03 in the victory over Kilkenny last week and, as our columnist Christy O’Connor notes, has already established himself as a fulcrum in Clare’s short-passing counter-attacking style.
Huw Lawlor (Kilkenny)
The towering O’Loughlin Gaels man (6’4 or 6’5 according to clubmate Paddy Deegan) was centre-back on the Kilkenny side that lost the U21 final to Limerick in 2017.
However, it’s at full-back that he has impressed since making his debut there in the Wild Geese trophy clsh with Galway in Sydney in November.
That performance drew the relatively effusive praise from manager Brian Cody that he was "a good player who is developing nicely."
He started and finished both the victory over Cork and narrow defeat to Clare, and the hope in Kilkenny will be that they’ve finally found a successor to JJ Delaney that would permit Padraig Walsh to roam further afield.
Conor Boylan (Limerick)
It won’t be too easy breaking into a team that had all six starting forwards nominated for All-Stars, and that's not even including his Na Piarsaigh team-mate, super sub Shane Dowling.
But Boylan has been tipped for greatness since being on the panel for his club’s St Patrick’s Day success in 2016, and won an All-Ireland U21 title with Limerick in 2017 alongside the likes of Aaron Gillane, Peter Casey, Tom Morrissey and Cian Lynch.
The rangy forward missed the club’s All-Ireland final defeat to Cuala last March through suspension and both Na Piarsaigh and Limerick U21s were defeated in Munster but 2019 has begun well.
The 20-year-old made his first senior start against Tipperary last weekend and impressed with 0-02 from play in his league debut.
Robert Byrne (Tipperary)
The Portroe defender was centre-back on the Tipp team that stunned Cork in last year’s U21 All-Ireland final, and half-managed to avoid telling TV cameras his team were ‘effin delighted' in the aftermath.
Fellow U21 winners Jake Morris and Mark Kehoe are getting game time up front but Byrne has managed to play his way into the starting line-up faster than Brian McGrath, the full-back brother of Noel and John for whom big things are also expected.
Byrne came on for Seamus Kennedy when the 2016 All-Ireland winner tweaked a hamstring in the Munster League final and was subsequently named at midfield for the League win over Clare and wing-back for the defeat to Limerick.
He set up a goal for Seamus Callanan against Clare while winning plenty of possession and appears to have the versatility to play anywhere between the 45s.
Marty Kavanagh (Carlow)
He’s far from a new arrival on the scene but ‘Mouse’ is still just 24.
The St Mullins man made his senior debut for Carlow at the tender age of 17, back when you could play minor, U21 and senior all at once.
The classy corner-forward was captain of the Barrowsiders by the time they claimed the Christy Ring Cup in 2017 but missed out on last year’s Joe McDonagh heroics as he opted to spend the summer in California after scoring 1-9 against Westmeath in the Division 2A final.
Kavanagh is back as Colm Bonnar’s side prepare to compete in the Leinster Championship this summer and announced himself on the national stage last week when he scored 0-11 (10f) including a crucial late free to earn a surprise draw with Galway.
That followed another impressive performance in the defeat to Dublin where he tallied 0-12, including three from play.
Read next: Five young footballers to watch in 2019
