Defenders on top again as half-backs bag June awards

IT’S not often that you see two half-backs winning the Vodafone GAA Player of the Month Awards, but it’s a fair indication of the level of influence Cork hurler Tom Kenny and Laois footballer Tom Kelly had over their team’s performances in the month of June.

Kenny collected the hurling award on the back of two outstanding championship performances for Cork, in both their Munster semi-final victory over Clare and then the Munster final dismissal of Waterford in Thurles. This is the right half-back’s first season of senior championship hurling, although he has lined-out for the Cork senior footballers since 1999. They way he has performed however, you would think he’s been there for an eternity.

“I suppose I have adapted to things pretty well but it definitely is a step up in standard,” Kenny said after accepting his award from GAA President Sean Kelly. “In the Clare game I was caught for breath a few times but that’s only natural. But the key thing is that it’s easy to settle in when you have good players alongside you. I mean, I have Ronan Curran on my left, Wayne Sherlock behind me, so that makes it easier when you have fellas like that around you.”

Already, though, despite having only played in two full championship games for Cork, Kenny has truckload of memories from those occasions, and with an awful lot of hurling yet to be played, the player is banking on few more before the summer is out.

“They were my first two championship games and to be honest, they were absolutely fantastic,” he said. “The thing that struck me most was ‘The Banks’ being sung after the Clare game; that really was amazing. And even after the Munster final, the way in which the fans stayed behind on the terrace was special.

“Our goal, as Donal said at the start of the year, was to improve game by game and I think we’ve achieved that bar one or two setbacks in the league. Coming into the Clare game we felt confident we could perform and I think we improved again in the second-half against Waterford. Now we’re in a great position to do something serious this season.”

As for Laois centre-back Tom Kelly, this summer has been an oasis of achievement compared to the barren campaigns of the past few years. Kelly won an All-Ireland minor title with the county back in 1997 but it’s only this year the player has felt he’s reached anywhere near his full potential.

The St Joseph’s man performed heroically during Laois’s shock defeat of Dublin at Croke Park and that performance, allied to his displays against Offaly in both draw and replay, earned him the Vodafone award.

“Things have gone very well so far this year and I have been delighted with my form,” Kelly said. “Beating Dublin was the best experience of the year. Nobody really gave us a chance, everybody was talking about other teams being in the final, and all the hype was about Dublin; it was really great to beat them at Croke Park.

“That day has some great memories but they won’t be worth anything unless we beat Kildare on Sunday. They’re a very capable team who have won Leinster’s titles before and we’re fully aware it’s going to be a tough task.”