Ger Aylward catches eye of nation but surprises no one in Kilkenny

It wasn't those ageing doyens that kept Ger Aylward at bay. Nor was he the best kept secret of Kilkenny people. Just held up by circumstances beyond his or Brian Cody's control.

"Anyone who was following Kilkenny will know he had a great league two years ago when we were missing a few players," said Richie Hogan of late.

“He has just been dogged by injuries since. Broke his ankle last year and missed the whole season. He’s pulled hamstrings, he’s done ankle ligaments, he’s done knee ligaments.

“He’s been savagely unfortunate with injury and if it wasn’t for that he definitely would have been in earlier.

“But he’s after getting a great run at it. As you can see, he has outrageous power and speed. His touch is brilliant, has a great eye for a goal.”

Astronomical

The torture of

Wexford

would have happened anyway but 3-5 from play in a

Leinster

championship semi-final is astronomical scoring.

Also born into a junior club (Glenmore), Aylward's march was slowed by those injuries until the 23-year-old was unleashed upon Wexford, with Richie Power and Colin Fennelly's unavailable.

But they knew he would come through. The best example is Hogan’s reaction to the suggestion that Aylward was one of these recent Kilkenny underage hurlers who suddenly, almost inexplicably, improved on arrival to the senior ranks.

“I’d completely disagree. He was a particularly outstanding under-21.

“He was probably unfortunate with the under-21 teams he was involved with. He played two years minor and I thought he was excellent. In under-21 the year they got to the final and were beaten by Clare, I think he was underage the following year again, but he was the main man that year.

“I think he got about 2-6 in the Leinster final from play and he scored a good bit in the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway. Really destroyed his man.

“He tore his hamstring just after the semi-final and was lucky to be playing in the final. He didn’t play particularly well that day but none of the Kilkenny lads did. They were kind of wiped out by a better Clare side. Following year, they were beaten by Wexford in the first round, so he didn’t really get a chance to impress.”

So really it’s more a case of Clare and Wexford underage structures making huge strides than Kilkenny going backwards. Aylward being the proof.

But you never really know. Every summer Kilkenny produce a minor like Richie Power in 2003 or Aylward in 2010.

“There’s a lot of lads like that,” said Hogan.

"He came in training with us maybe 2012-ish to make up the numbers. I was obviously impressed with him and a number of other lads there – Cillian Buckley, Brian Kennedy, John Power – that vintage, they all came in around the same time.

Never tell

“Never any doubt in my mind that he would play at some stage, that he would get his chance. He was definitely deserving of a chance.”

But you never really know until championship?

“If you do it in training, you play in the games. If you do it in the game, you play in the next game. You can’t tell how a lad will react to a game.

Hogan makes an important correction. “It wasn’t his debut either.

“He came on against Tipp that day down in Nowlan Park [in 2013, replacing TJ Reid on 20 minutes]. He is not after bursting onto the scene, he has had to work his way up.”

That means long nights in the corner with Jackie Tyrrell or Paul Murphy.

“I’m sure he has done enough for the next day.

“He’s a great asset to have as we have lost a number of forwards over the last couple of years, so it’s nice to have one or two coming through.”

Conor Martin is another, still on the perimeter for Sunday's Leinster final against Galway but certain to play in next Wednesday's under-21 final against Wexford.

Huge task

“Yeah, it’s a huge task [to get in the team] because you’re dealing with the best players in the country at the minute,” Martin stated this week.

“The likes of TJ Reid and Richie Hogan and them boys, they all have multiple All-Ireland medals. It’s going to be very hard to break into the team but you just have to keep the head down and keep trying.

“It’s like Ger Aylward the last day, he was going good in training all along and when he got a chance against Wexford, he took it with both hands.”