Fennelly enjoying Cats’ new challenge
Their roll of honour speaks for itself. So too does the fact that Kilkenny have stared down a Cork side that favoured a revolutionary short game, a Waterford team that crackled with electric energy and a Tipperary outfit that, for a time, matched them with pace, intensity and physicality.
You doubt that you will ever see their like again but then you sit down and talk to Michael Fennelly about his new life as a student of sports performance in the University of Limerick and it makes you wonder if, in fact, we are only at the foothills of what can be accomplished in the ancient game.
Fennelly worked in banking until he took redundancy and turned his focus to life in college and he will soon begin a thesis that will seek to establish the benefits that GPS technology could have for hurling.
GPS technology, which is collected by kitting players out with special vests that record their physical activity, is used extensively in all manner of sports around the world with Barcelona, Leinster Rugby and the Atlanta Falcons just a few of the clubs and bodies to place their faith in it.
Kilkenny wore the GPS equipment once last year but expense — it can cost approximately €100 per unit to hire — is a debilitating factor for GAA teams looking to break this knowledge bank, which means that Fennelly will be approaching what is virtually virgin territory when he hits the books.
“There has been no science applied to hurling, especially in the GPS side of things, so that has to be done. You obviously get results off GPS systems on how many sprints a player does, his heart rate and how often he rests.
“That will tell you exactly how hard he should be training,” said Fennelly who was sidelined by injury in recent months. “The old days of lads doing laps around a field have changed.
“It is constantly changing, whether it is right or wrong who knows? A bit more has been done on football and that has helped. The Tyrone boys were using the GPS and it is great to get that bit of science behind it if you can.”
The mind boggles what Kilkenny might have achieved this past 10 years or so had they such cutting edge equipment and research but they may yet need all the help they can get to maintain their status as market leaders.
The aura of invincibility, first cracked when Tipp took them in the 2010 All-Ireland final, has been lessened considerably with standout losses to Dublin and Galway in more recent years but Fennelly hasn’t been fretting about the manner in which they have been reeled in by hurling’s peloton.
“Other teams are getting stronger and better and hungrier for success. A lot of these younger players are more fearless and want to achieve.
“It’s the way things go. We’re not hurling any worse than last year. We have injuries but other teams are stepping up a bit more. We can’t win forever so something’ll have to happen.”
If anything, Kilkenny have been energised by the mounting challenges and it is worth bearing in mind that the county went on to win the All-Ireland in 2004, the last time they were absent from proceedings when the Leinster final was being contested.
“There is great enjoyment from it,” said Fennelly of their qualifier run. “Tyrone won the All-Ireland a few years back and played 12 games. They had replays every week. They built on that. It’s a huge team achievement in itself. It is exciting. We’ve played four games in a year in the past to win an All-Ireland. We’re on our sixth game already and already it’s only a quarter-final stage.”
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