Richie had to be moulded into a Cody player... Cody put manners on him, says Adrian Ronan.

BIGGEST hurling story of 2015, thus far? No question there: Henry Shefflin’s retirement.

Traumatic events can define you, destroy you, or strengthen you, and Kilkenny All Ireland hurling champion Adrian Ronan yesterday said his family believe they will be strengthened by their tiger kidnap ordeal after a man was jailed for eight years for the crime.

A Ballymun man has been jailed for eight years for taking part in a 'tiger' kidnapping at the home of former All-Ireland hurling star Adrian Ronan.

A court has heard that three masked gunmen burst into the home of a former All-Ireland hurling champion as part of a botched €3m tiger raid on Bank of Ireland.

A man has admitted taking part in the attempted robbery of a bank in 2009 which involved using force on Kilkenny hurling All Ireland champion Adrian Ronan and his family.

A Dublin man has admitted taking part in the attempted robbery of a bank nearly five years ago which involved using force on Kilkenny hurling All-Ireland champion Adrian Ronan and his family.

At 21 he still couldn’t break onto the club’s senior starting line-up — in fact he’d play senior championship for Kilkenny before he’d play it with his club

A 24-year-old man has appeared before Kilkenny District Court charged in connection with a tiger-kidnapping at the home of a former All-Ireland hurling star.

A man has been arrested in relation to the false imprisonment of a bank official (former Kilkenny hurler Adrian Ronan) and his family in Kilkenny almost two years ago.

IF you point your car south from Kilkenny city and travel on any of the major three arteries towards Waterford, Carrick-on-Suir or Clonmel, you’ll travel through Danesfort GAA country.

THERE will be an air of nostalgia when Waterford and Kilkenny face off in tonight’s All-Ireland MHC quarter-final at Walsh Park (7pm).

DUBLIN begin their attempt at claiming a unique provincial hurling treble when they contest tomorrow’s minor final against Kilkenny.

ASK Anthony Daly about his first big encounter with Kilkenny and the chances are he won’t talk about the match itself, the 1995 National League final.

KILKENNY have made a single but significant change for tomorrow’s Leinster Senior Hurling Championship final, recalling former Hurler of the Year Tommy Walsh in defence.

He may be entering his 13th season, which some might regard as being unlucky, but Kilkenny County Board had absolutely no misgivings when re-appointing Brian Cody as senior hurling manager last night.

HE may be entering his 13th season, which some might regard as being unlucky, but Kilkenny County Board had absolutely no misgivings when re-appointing Brian Cody as senior hurling manager last night.

Two people remain in Garda custody in connection with the kidnapping of bank official and former Kilkenny hurler Adrian Ronan and his family last year.

Gardaí have released, without charge, the final four people they were questioning over a 'tiger' kidnapping in Kilkenny last year.

Gardaí investigating the abduction of former Kilkenny hurler Adrian Ronan last year have released three of the people arrested in connection with the incident.

Gardaí are continuing to question ten people arrested yesterday as part of a major investigation into the attempted abduction and robbery of a former Kilkenny hurler.

GARDAÍ are confident they have broken a major criminal gang which specialised in so-called tiger kidnappings with the arrest of 10 people in dawn raids in Dublin yesterday.

Ten people were arrested today in a series of dawn raids over a tiger kidnapping which targeted the family of All-Ireland winning Kilkenny hurler Adrian Ronan.

GARDAÍ have launched an intensive hunt for the armed gang who kidnapped the family of a security firm worker and robbed a van making a delivery of cash to a Dublin city centre bank.

ANYONE complaining of tiredness in the Ballyhale Shamrocks camp ahead of the Leinster Club SHC final against Tullamore in Tullamore on Sunday would be given short shrift by the management because of the example of Henry Shefflin.

Two men were being questioned tonight over a failed tiger-kidnap robbery which targeted a Kilkenny All-Ireland hurler.

Gardaí have arrested two men in connection with the false imprisonment of a bank official and his family in Kilkenny earlier this month.

The number of businessmen who fear being the next target of a tiger kidnapping has soared in recent months, it emerged today.

Banks are to look into tightening rules on staff access to large sums of cash to further combat tiger-kidnap plots, it was revealed tonight.

Justice Minster Dermot Ahern is meeting with the Garda Commissioner and representatives from the banks today for talks on the latest tiger kidnappings.

GARDAÍ were zeroing in on the gang behind the Kilkenny tiger kidnapping last night and the criminal boss who is thought to have gone into hiding in his base in Dublin.

HURLER DJ Carey has called for a zero tolerance approach, including electronic tagging, for criminals convicted of carrying out tiger kidnappings on bank officials and their families.

JUSTICE Minister Dermot Ahern will pile pressure on banking chiefs today to take more robust measures to prevent bank raids amid concerns individual bank staff are being allowed to handle excessive amounts of cash.

Former hurler DJ Carey has described as "scum of the earth" the gang behind yesterday's 'tiger' kidnapping in Kilkenny.

More details are expected to emerge today about the 'tiger' kidnapping involving former Kilkenny hurler, Adrian Ronan.

A MOTHER-OF-THREE was abducted from her home by an armed gang in the latest tiger kidnapping involving a bank official’s family yesterday morning.

An All-Ireland winning hurler and his family are recovering after he was forced to demand several million euro cash from the bank where he works after a kidnap gang threatened his wife and three children.

Gardaí in Kilkenny are investigating after a bank official and his family were held hostage by an armed gang.

Kilkenny’s great hurling nursery is St Kieran’s College. Michael Moynihan visited a place where they take the game so seriously one of their pitches is lined to exactly the same dimensions as Croke Park.

Westmeath manager Seamus Qualter has named an unchanged line-up for Saturday's Leinster SHC semi-final against reigning champions Kilkenny (Cusack Park, throw-in 7pm).

Graigue-Ballycallan 3-12 Young Irelands 1-13

THEY are the Cinderella story of Kilkenny hurling, the ugly little duckling that swanned into its first county senior final in 1998. Having won it, they enjoyed the experience so much that for the next three years, they never left the biggest stage in the county.