Fennelly ruled out of Cats opener

2011 Hurler of the Year Michael Fennelly is certain to miss Kilkenny's Leinster SHC opener against Offaly in Tullamore on Sunday week.

Fennelly went over on his ankle during a club game with Ballyhale Shamrocks 10 days ago, and the lynchpin midfielder, who scored 2-3 from centre forward during the recent league final win over Tipperary, has conceded he will not be back in time for the provincial quarter-final.

"It's still very tender but I'm just back putting weight on it this last few days. It will probably be three to four weeks hopefully. But it's hard to know with the ankle because if you do a bit of work with, it could just flair up so you have to be patient," he said, speaking at the launch of the GAA/GPA Youth Camps.

While injured duo Fennelly and Henry Shefflin are sidelined at present, the Kilkenny panel got an unexpected boost on Sunday when their manager Brian Cody took his first training session since undergoing heart surgery almost two months ago.

The players were thrilled to see their nine-time All-Ireland winning boss back at the helm, with Fennelly admitting: "It's great to see him back and it's two weeks before Championship which is a good time to be coming.

"His health is key and whenever he felt right, he was going to come back. I think the players are mature enough to get on with things too and (assistant manager) Martin (Fogarty) and (trainer) Mick (Dempsey) have held the camp together well.

"(There was no big fuss), Brian just slipped back in and that was it. He was only out for a few months so he just slipped back in.

"I was in doing rehab so I wasn't out on the field so I barely saw him. He looked fine. I just saw him before training."

Fennelly has had his fair share of injuries over the years, and understands the difficulties that his Kilkenny team-mate John Tennyson, who battled back from two cruciate injuries, went through before he publicly announced his retirement from inter-county hurling yesterday.

Commenting on the Carrickshock clubman's decision, Fennelly said: "Yeah, John hung up the boots last week. I only heard that myself there maybe two days ago. He has been crippled with injuries too. He did his cruciate twice.

"He is 28 years of age and he is maybe similar to me. He is seven or eight years on the panel.

"He didn't get a run in the league unfortunately. Maybe he feels he wasn't adding anything to the team or to the panel. Again, you could see him back in a year or two's time if he gets injury free."