Quiet man Fennelly carries big burden

BY Wednesday morning Mick O’Dwyer’s Laois selection of the night before had more holes picked in it than the plot of a Jeffrey Archer novel.

It had nothing to do with Beano’s omission either. McDonald’s absence may have grabbed the national headlines but there were few dissenters when news of his demotion for today’s game spread from parish to parish.

The Arles man’s form had suffered in the wake of his nine-month injury lay-off. The nitpicking within the midland county zeroed in elsewhere.