Adrian Mullen set to be named as Kilkenny captain; Conor Phelan joins management team
Adrian Mullen of Kilkenny . Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Adrian Mullen is expected to be handed the Kilkenny hurling captaincy for the forthcoming season.
Kilkenny are to stick with the tradition of appointing a captain from the previous year’s county championship-winning club, with Ballyhale Shamrocks forward Mullen favoured to succeed Colin Fennelly as captain for 2021.
The latter’s recent decision to opt out of the Kilkenny panel this year has reduced Shamrocks' representation in Brian Cody’s set-up for the season ahead.
Shamrocks have won the last three Kilkenny county championships (2018-20), with TJ Reid captaining the Cats in 2019 — his second time in the role having first been captain in 2010 — and Fennelly leading the team last year. Reid was just 22-years-old when first taking up the post of captain, a year older than Mullen is now.
Twenty-one-year-old Mullen missed his club's and Kilkenny’s 2020 championship campaigns after tearing his cruciate ligament during the county’s National League game, against Clare, in February of last year.
He made his senior championship debut in 2019 and was later named that season’s Young Hurler of the Year.
Meanwhile, Kilkenny have announced that Clara's Conor Phelan will be joining Brian Cody's management team for 2021.
Kilkenny GAA wishes to announce that Conor Phelan of @ClaraGAA will be joining the Kilkenny senior hurling management team for the 2021 season.
— Kilkenny GAA (@KilkennyCLG) January 20, 2021
Phelan managed Mount Leinster Rangers for the last two seasons and has also been involved in the Kilkenny camogie set up.
