Consider it an act of mercy.
This time last week a group of young men was being sent out to their eternal damnation as footballers under the age of 18 willing to play for Kilkenny.
They did not know it at the time, but their record hammering by 71 points at the hands of Wexford would be the last game of the 2016 season they would have to endure.
The humiliation suffered by the team and the management left many questions unanswered as to their preparation, and the pointless exercise for Wexford of recording a facile win that will do nothing for their Leinster ambitions.
Kilkenny chairman Ned Quinn apologised midweek to the Kilkenny team, but it seems that a veil is being drawn over the whole sorry saga by all on Noreside.
The Kilkenny minors were set to face their second game in this year’s championship in the coming days.
The winner of the round-robin clash of Carlow or Laois was due to face the Cats, in what surely would have been another embarrassing and heavy loss.
But, according to the Irish independent, that will now not take place.
The newspaper is reporting that the Kilkenny county board met this week to discuss last week’s shellacking, and after a discussion with the minor football management, it has been decided to pull the team from the provincial championship.
SportsJOE contacted both the Leinster Council and the Kilkenny County Board for a response to the reports, but both were unavailable for comment.
