Conveyor belt the key, says Fennelly
The only time it ever happened before was when the unlikely combination of London and Cork met each other in 1901 (London’s only win), ‘02 and ‘03. It’s the sixth final in-a-row for Kilkenny also, something never been done before.
The same teams and the same old faces. Or is it that simple?
Michael Fennelly, who has been on the Kilkenny panel since 2006 and never experienced a championship loss until last year, points out there have been changes. Kilkenny are seen as the team of grizzled veterans but, strange as it may seem, Tipperary are actually the team with fewer changes from the 2009 All-Ireland final. Ten Tipp starters from that side start this Sunday, the Cats have just nine and six new faces.
The question now though is: with all those changes, are Kilkenny stronger? From Michael, a surprisingly candid reply.
“Our team has changed dramatically — we might have had a stronger panel three years ago. I was a sub, John Dalton, Michael Rice, a good few of us were subs that day and fighting for our place and I don’t think we were too far off.
“The likes of Derek Lyng has retired, Michael Kavanagh and Eddie Brennan are in their near mid-30s. We’re looking for fresh players coming in like Paddy and Richie Hogan and the brother [Colin], Paul Murphy who’s been regular at corner-back.
“It has definitely changed but three years later, I dunno are we as good, I don’t know if the strength in the panel is the same. We could have brought on maybe 10 lads back then, I don’t know if that’s still as strong. I think one to 21 or 23 is strong, but we had a conveyor belt there when I was a minor.
“Nine or ten off our U21 team came through to the senior team, then two or three years ahead of us there was seven or eight who made it. There was a conveyor belt there. Obviously that has to dry off at some stage, and it has. We’ve picked up the likes of Richie Doyle who’s on the panel now and young Eoin Murphy from Glenmore, he’s only 21 — they’re bringing in these players but there’s only one or two though from this year’s U21s.
“Losing someone like Derek Lyng was a huge loss, he was a great midfield player, showed great leadership and players like that can’t be replaced.”
Derek was replaced by Michael himself and to such positive effect that Fennelly was in line for Hurler of the Year for the past two seasons. His brother Colin and Paul Murphy, have replaced Eddie Brennan and Michael Kavanagh almost from nowhere.
“The lads have been good enough to start and have been picked and have really filled the boots, they’ve hurled three great games. Paul Murphy has been outstanding; he wasn’t picked in the league campaign, John Dalton was there [corner-back] last year and is hurling well too this year but just one bad game and Paul’s come in there straight away and has no problems.”
It goes to show that Brian Cody’s time-worn policy of picking the players in form still holds, even if it means going for a greenhorn over a proven veteran. It goes to show too, however, that maybe this team – even if the panel isn’t as deep as has been the case over the past decade — isn’t itself as timeworn as many people seem to think.
Just two of Kilkenny’s starting 15 are in their 30s – Henry (32) and Noel Hickey (30). Nothing stale about this rivalry. Nothing stale either about this team.
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