Colin Fennelly, captain of the victorious Ballyhale Shamrocks team in yesterday's Kilkenny county final, has confirmed that his intercounty career is over. The four-time All-Ireland winner was twice an All Star.
He announced last January that he was stepping away from the Kilkenny panel for a while but left it open whether and when he might come back. The uncertainty ended when he told media after his club’s fourth successive county title that he wouldn’t be returning.
“No, I’ll be finished up. I have had enough. I had a year to think about it and I am glad I took that time to think about it. I am happy playing with the club and there are so many young lads coming through. I had a great time playing with Kilkenny. Fantastic so it was.”
His club career rolls on, however, and the opportunity to add to his five All-Irelands with Ballyhale continues at the end of the month when they are drawn against former finalists Mount Leinster Rangers of Carlow in the provincial championship.
“Definitely,” he says. “I won’t be stopping with the club; that is for sure. The Leinster championship is very much on our radar now. We are out in three weeks’ time and we will be looking forward to it.
"We will enjoy this moment, and for the week and then we will get back to training. We are after doing the second four in-a-row [after 2006-09]. This is my 10th championship win. Myself, Eoin Reid and TJ – three of us left of the first one. This is an amazing feeling. I am delighted for the club and team."
The Kilkenny champions are also in pursuit of a three-in-a-row club All-Ireland for a second year, having become back-to-back winners in early 2020 before Covid put a halt to the 2021 championship. They will be hoping to contest the Leinster final at Croke Park a week before Christmas and, if that goes well, the season’s All-Ireland series in the new year.
It's all coming together for Shamrocks. Next year they will be have the chance of setting a record in Kilkenny by winning five successive Tom Walsh Cups. It would also draw them level at the top of the county roll of honour with Tullaroan – and all of this in their jubilee year.
County final
Yesterday they came late to see off O’Loughlin Gaels in the county final. A blistering final-quarter display finally put the match away.
The county final crowd of 5,104 included health care workers admitted free of charge in a joint promotion by Nowlan Park sponsors UPMC and the Kilkenny County Board.
That there were supporters there at all was a welcome development after the empty-stadium county finals of last year’s pandemic-closed county championship deciders. It was mentioned by winning manager James O’Connor afterwards and Fennelly echoed the point.
“It’s great, to see all the family and friends. It’s completely different. You win matches but when you see your family and friends it means so much more to everyone.”
