THEY MAY BE teenagers but Adam Screeney and Darragh McCarthy are the box-office breakout stars behind the instant sell-out that greeted the All-Ireland U20 hurling final ticket release.
Offaly, more than any traditional hurling heartland, has been starved of success, while Tipperary need a pick-me-up after their senior struggles.
Around such prodigious prospects as Screeney and McCarthy are hopes for a brighter future built. Like most of their teammates, both are still underage for next year too.
Their managers have the close-up view of their exploits and abilities. Both were full of praise after their man-of-the-match performances in recent provincial final victories.
Offaly boss Leo O’Connor said of Screeney this week on Midlands 103: “Adam is a total natural sportsman. A very good golfer as well. He’s one of these guys who’s blessed that no matter what sport he picks up, he’s good at it. He’s competitive at everything. He wants to win everything.
“Adam is a slip of a lad but he has the feet to get himself into positions and he has a great hurling brain. He always seems to be playing the 60/40 on his side of the percentage.
“The space that he creates inside in front of himself, there’s no doubt we play tactics to create that space, but Adam always seems to work his way into a game and get on ball.
“Even in last year’s All-Ireland U20 final, the first 20 minutes that day he was absolutely electrical. I wouldn’t describe him as a freak of nature but he’s just a very good sporting brain.”
25 nóim, #DUBvOFF @DubGAAOfficial 0:07@Offaly_GAA 1:05
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) May 22, 2024
Féach ar an draíocht seo! 🤩
Adam Screeney with the point of the day, from the tightest of angles!
BEO/LIVETG4 AR @TG4TV 📺
#GAABEO @EirGrid pic.twitter.com/s0ap6WXF1N
Tipp chief Brendan Cummins hailed match-winner McCarthy for his sublime last-gasp point to dethrone Cork in the Munster final.
“That last point from Darragh McCarthy, I don’t know how he hit it over the bar but he did. That bit of genius deserved to split the teams in the finish.
“He is just very strong and low built to the ground. He has been in with the seniors a bit so it has helped him, the education he has got off Liam (Cahill) and his team.
“In fairness to Darragh and Oisín (O’Donoghue), when the ball went in one-on-one it stuck. That was the key and it allowed our defence to get into a bit of a shape.
“If that ball came out quicker, it would have meant Cork would have had you on the counter-attack.”
64 nóim, #CORvTIP@OfficialCorkGAA 0-21@TipperaryGAA 1-19
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) May 24, 2024
An scór buacach ó Darragh McCarthy agus is iad Tiobraid Árann seaimpíní na Mumhan 2024! 🥎
Darragh McCarthy with the winning score for Tipperary! 👏
BEO/LIVE AR @TG4TV 📺 @MunsterGAA #GAABEO @oneills1918 pic.twitter.com/gUJe4fa67W
Screeney started out his Offaly career as a dual player, playing minor football and hurling in 2021. He scored 1-8 on his hurling debut only to be outshone by Kilkenny’s Harry Shine, who notched 2-15.
He returned the next year to blast 5-51 in seven games as Offaly came within seconds of All-Ireland glory only to be left heartbroken by Tipp. Across the border, the Nenagh Guardian selected him as the player of the match in that final defeat. He was named the Minor Star Hurler of the Year and his goal against Clare was voted TG4’s Cúl na Bliana.
At schools level, he completed a remarkable hat trick of Leinster A, B, and C titles across two years with the Offaly Schools combination and Coláiste Naomh Cormac. While the amalgamation team wasn’t permitted to compete for the All-Ireland A title, Screeney collected the B and C national honours. In the B final, he scored 2-13 of his school’s 2-17 total as captain, with 2-4 from play.
In his first year at the adult grades, in 2023, he was top scorer in the All-Ireland U20 championship with 2-59 in seven games. His 1-12 in the Leinster final swung a thriller against Wexford. In the All-Ireland final against Cork, he was bending the final to his will in the first half before some tough marking got the better of him.
“It was always a part of my game that I was smaller than everyone else, so I had to make adaptations, and you understand that people will target you,” he reflected last autumn.
“Cork knew where our weak point was. They were a strong, physical team and we weren’t, there’s 10 of us underage next year from the 15. I presume, if Offaly were in their shoes, we would do the same thing. They just had their game plan right.
“There were lessons we’ll take on board. They knew that we had two big scorers in the forward line, and they won’t just go and let them get their scores.”
He’s almost certain to top the scoring charts again this year with 1-50 in five games so far. Already, he has ‘best of’ videos bearing his name and personal highlights. They are choc-a-block with scores off right and left, bewitching sidesteps, tricks, and feints.
Among them is his phenomenal Leinster final point against Dublin where he flicked the sliotar over one Dublin defender while fending off a second. Earlier this campaign, he buried a screamer to the net against the same bewildered opponents.
At club level, meanwhile, he won an Offaly senior title at the first attempt with Kilcormac-Killoughey.
He has become used to signing autographs after games for flocks of children but is happy to oblige. His youth was spent hunting down signatures off TJ Reid, Henry Shefflin, and Joe Canning. Indeed, he is still the proud owner of a hurley bearing Canning’s signature with Sellotape over it to act as a protective layer.
McCarthy wasn’t the dominant force that Screeney was when their paths crossed in the 2022 All-Ireland minor final. The Tipp man was a bench impact player but his reputation was quick to grow. Even in that final, he was called upon at half-time to help overturn a six-point deficit.
In his first year senior, McCarthy scored 2-35 in five games for Toomevara and was named the North Tipperary Hurler of the Year. He was the youngest recipient of the award since goalkeeper Ken Hogan in 1980.
Harty Cup level is where McCarthy really made waves. In fifth year, he blitzed 2-32 in three games as Nenagh CBS were somehow still knocked out in the group stage.
They came back on a mission the next year to carry the school to their first-ever Harty crown, with 1-50 from all-action captain McCarthy in five games.
He has 1-38 in his five U20 games this term but it was his outrageous over-the-shoulder winning point from the Uncovered Stand sideline against Cork that captured the imagination.
That completed his 10-point haul but equally significant was the rob he pulled off to create O’Donoghue’s goal.
“I’m just so happy for all the lads,” said McCarthy afterwards. “They’ve worked so hard and taken so much criticism the whole year long, getting trashed in challenge matches and all this, but that’s part and parcel of it.
“You have to get on with that and we used that as motivation throughout the year. It’s a bunch of lads that never gave up for each other and that’s all we can do every day we go out on the field.
“Brendan got up a picture before the match of a Primary Game team and I’d say there’s eight of us that have played since that age.
“That bond is there. We’re all so close when it comes to the field, we just know each other so well. That helps a lot.”
*****
Saturday June 1st
- All-Ireland U20 hurling final: Offaly v Tipperary, UPMC Nowlan Park, 7.15pm – Live TG4.
