Kilcormac-Killoughey hope 'unbelievable hurler' Cillian Kiely available for Leinster final

He only returned to club action last weekend as a second-half sub in the Leinster semi-final win over Castletown Geoghegan.

Kiely then agonisingly received another blow to the same thumb and will be assessed throughout the week to see if he can feature against Na Fianna this weekend at Croke Park.

The 2012 provincial winners are definitely without rising star Ter Guinan, who lined out in Offaly's All-Ireland U-20 final win, due to a hamstring injury.

"I'm hoping he's available," said goalkeeper Conor Slevin of Kiely. "I think there'd want to be something seriously wrong to hold him back. But I don't know, I think he has a few tests to do on it.

"He's an unbelievable hurler, his speed, his strength, his strike. It's off the charts. You even saw it there at the weekend when he came on, like, at this time of the year you need big men that are able to come in and put their weight around and he came on and started to hit anything that moved."

The back-to-back Offaly champions are desperate to make it third time lucky in Leinster finals having lost to Ballyhale Shamrocks (2014) and Cuala (2017) since their 2012 triumph.

They are backboned this time by a golden generation of young players, headed up by boy wonder Adam Screeney. The club contributed a whopping 11 players to Offaly's successful U-20 panel.

"Around the time in '12 and '13 when we were going well with the seniors, a focus was put into a bunch of seven and eight-year-olds in the club," explained long-serving goalkeeper Slevin. 

"Shane Hand, who is manager now, his lad is one of those players. Shane was training them along with Justin Mahon and Keith Screeney. They gave us a lot of underage success over the last seven or eight years and that was down to that group.

"There are more coming through now. I even see it there myself, I have a couple of nieces and nephews who are mad into hurling and who are all about Adam Screeney and Brecon Kavanagh and Ter Guinan and all these guys."

The club is flourishing with five different adult teams - Senior, Senior B and three junior sides - all reaching semi-finals at least this year.

"We've a savage pick, we have 40 Senior A hurlers," said Slevin. "They're Senior A hurlers no matter what way you put it after winning Senior B the last two years."

Croke Park's space and fast sod should suit a talented Kilcormac-Killoughey side full of running and pace.

Slevin isn't so sure about that one, arguing that having played Na Fianna in a challenge game already this year, the venue could play to their strengths too.

"I think it was a drawn match," smiled Slevin, when asked who won the challenge. "It's just the talent Na Fianna have all over the field that stands out.

"I was looking at the match report from their game last weekend and if you look at the forward line and the players they have, it's unbelievable.

"Go out to the middle of the field and you see Brian Ryan, who hurled with Limerick. Then you have Liam Rushe playing centre-back, they have strength all over the field. They have the experience of being there last year too so we know we're up against it."