Bonnar predicting Cats to scale summit again
Bonnar believes that the Cats will reclaim the Liam McCarthy Cup from his native Tipperary next year after losing out in their quest for the five in a row last September.
And Bonnar isn’t ruling out another period of dominance from the Cats, insisting that they could emulate the Kerry footballers of the 1980’s who bounced back from missing out on the five-in-a-row in 1982 by winning three successive titles from 1984-86.
Bonnar, who won two All-Ireland SHC medals as a player with Tipperary, said: “It wouldn’t surprise me to see Kilkenny come back and win the All-Ireland. Tipperary had a brilliant final and beat them by eight points but overall, you saw what Kilkenny did to Galway in the Leinster final and to Dublin in the first round.
“They also destroyed Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final. Tipp struggled against Galway and lost to Cork in Munster so for me, Kilkenny are still the team to beat.”
Bonnar is anticipating a ferocious backlash from Brian Cody’s wounded Cats in 2011 and expects to see them tackle the pre-season Walsh Cup and National Hurling League with renewed vigour in the quest to unearth new talent.
Bonnar said: “Normally Kilkenny would be out on holidays now and not taking the Walsh Cup and League seriously. It’s a chance for them to get refocused on a mission to show that they’re still on the radar and capable of coming back to win not one, but two All-Irelands. And they could be like the Kerry team that won the four in a row and then came back to win three in a row.”
Wexford, meanwhile, will be looking to consolidate their position among hurling’s elite as they prepare for a return to Division 1 of the National Hurling League.
Bonnar, however, is planning without last season’s captain Diarmuid ‘Gizzy’ Lyng, who is in America, while the manager has also received bad news about forward Andrew Shore, who could be facing up to six months on the sideline through injury.
Shore, from the Davidstown-Courtnacuddy club, is struggling to overcome a back injury.
Bonnar revealed: “The diagnosis is three to six months. It’s a nerve in his back that’s not settling and it will be at least three months before he starts back training. I spoke with Andrew a few days ago and he might still have to go under the knife.”
Shore now faces a race against time to be ready for next summer’s championship season but Eoin Quigley could be fit for the start of the league campaign after undergoing ankle surgery recently.
Bonnar, however, will be hamstrung for the Walsh Cup and early stages of the league due to the club and college commitments of various players.
He explained: “Gizzy has taken the year out with work and he’s a big loss. We have to plan without the Oulart-the-Ballagh lads as well; Darren Stamp, Keith Rossiter, Paul Roche, Lar Prendergast, David Redmond, Mick and Rory Jacob and Darren Nolan was on the subs. But it gives us the chance to bring in a couple of younger lads and see how they develop in challenge games before the Walsh Cup.”
Bonnar has organised challenge matches against Limerick, Clare and Cork for early in the New Year.
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