Fennelly won’t be taking part in Cork IT’s county challenge

HE may have claimed his first All-Ireland senior hurling medal on Sunday but Kilkenny attacker Colin Fennelly has no plans to try to add a Cork senior hurling medal to his collection this season.

Fennelly is eligible to line out for third-level outfit Cork IT in Sunday’s Cork SHC semi-final against Newtownshandrum and he is not involved in club action next weekend, with Ballyhale Shamrocks’ next game scheduled for September 17 when they face James Stephens in the Kilkenny senior hurling league final.

Fennelly did feature in the CIT team that reached last March’s Fitzgibbon Cup semi-final but having been absent during their county championship campaign, he does not believe it would be fair to now be parachuted into the squad.

“They’ve a fair team down there. They don’t need me to walk in, messing up things. I haven’t played with them all summer as I told them I wouldn’t be able to play until I finished with Kilkenny. To be fair Keith Ricken (CIT’s GAA Officer) was on the phone to me last week wishing me the best of luck. I got a text off him as well yesterday which was nice. I’d say I’ll probably go down to Cork and have a look but I wouldn’t say I’ll be playing with them.”

Fennelly was a hamstring injury concern for Kilkenny before the game but was not happy with his fitness until last Friday night when he was able to sprint freely in training. And he was in the wars during the game as well, blocking a clearance from Lar Corbett before half-time and sustaining a wound which required three stitches.

“I didn’t mean to put in my head,” laughed Fennelly. “I had to block down the ball and my hurl was gone, broke. I just stood in front of him and blocked the ball. It was those long balls killed us last year so all the lads just killed every single ball they could this year.”