Nothing beats a little sibling rivalry when it comes to stoking competitive instinct, and if Michael Fennelly needed any more incentive to work his way back into the Kilkenny team it must surely have come in Nowlan Park on Sunday.
There, once the dust settled on Kilkenny’s 10 goal and 34 point duel with Tipperary, stood younger brother Colin, his 3-5 – all from play – effectively deciding the contest in Kilkenny’s favour. At 24, and four years younger than Michael, it was unquestionably his best ever performance in a Kilkenny jersey.
“I suppose it has to be, yeah,” says Fennelly. “I can’t remember scoring like that, since I was a child, playing at schools. So it was a great performance and I was happy enough with it. I suppose we were struggling a bit, at half time. I was lucky enough to be on the end of the ball, when another lad could be on other days, and was happy enough to get the goals.”
More importantly, perhaps, was the leadership displayed by Fennelly, especially given more seasoned players such as Tommy Walsh and Brian Hogan were replaced at half-time, for purely tactical reasons. Others such as defender Joey Holden and forward Walter Walsh also upped their game considerably, and yet it was Fennelly who was leading from the front, the man from Ballyhale Shamrock relishing in his new role at centre forward.
'Bit of a change'
"I suppose there was a bit of a change, going centre forward. When you are in the corner so much, you can get used to things. But they talked to me at the start of the year, and said 'we want you out there, and need more work out of you', and I said yeah. It was down to myself then and fitness and being able to keep on going.
“But in the first half, once you don’t put your head down, is the big thing. They (Tipperary) got the goals, and at half time we had to take a serious look at ourselves. We had to do that and we did.”
Meanwhile, Michael Fennelly – the 2011 Hurler of the Year – is easing his way back into training, after spending an extended winter break in Australia: however, his younger brother expects to see him back amongst the mix very soon: “He can’t wait to get back into it. I see him at home there, and it’s all training, all focus, and he can’t wait to get back in. It’ll be tough but, sure, once he comes back, it’s more pressure on the midfielders. “It’s the same in every single position all over the field. The more pressure you’ve on, the better you have to get, and it improves the team all over.
Brian Cody certainly wasn’t reading too deeply into Sunday’s result – especially as division 1A is now all level pegging – and yet the attitude had to be highly satisfying for the Kilkenny manager. Fennelly agrees that heads never dropped, with newcomer Mark Kelly also showing up for the fifth Kilkenny goal that helped seal the deal.
“That’s a big thing,” says Fennelly. “He (Kelly) kept on going, and he got the reward at the end. Whereas the last day against Clare we went a point ahead in the last 10 minutes, and we died.
Meanwhile, Croke Park has confirmed that motion 46 agreed at last weekend’s Congress – limiting minor intercounty players to under-18 and under-17, and forbidding players under-16 – is unlikely to come into effect until 2015.
Ordinarily, this change to rule would come into effect four weeks after Congress: however, there will be a proposal at the next Central Council meeting, on March 22nd, to seek a deferment of its implementation until January 1st, 2015 – thus avoiding any confusion or conflict for players seeking eligibility for the 2014 minor championship. However, from next year, the rule effectively means that players have a maximum of two years to represent their county at minor level.
