Diligent farmer sees stock grow

John Power

Club: John Lockes, Callan.

Age: 32.

Occupation: Farmer.

Height/Weight: 6' 1"/12st.

Honours: 2 All-Ireland SHC (1992, '93); 5 Leinster SHC (1987, '91, '92, '93, '99); 2 NHL (1990, '95); 2 Railway Cups (1988 and '93 as captain); 2 All Stars (1992 and '93); 1 All-Ireland JHC (1986); Leinster MHC (1984); Leinster U21 HC (1987).

One view of John Power's mission this season is that all he wants to do is get his medal and show it to Kevin Fennelly, the Kilkenny manager last year who controversially left him off the county panel.

Others say that such a motivation is out-of-kilter with a long career marked by a fierce pride in the Kilkenny jersey. Furthermore such recriminatory impulses could well be self-defeating.

In the season to date, Power has returned with a vengeance. The tough, wiry centre forward who was so central to the county's last All-Ireland win six years ago has re-emerged and left an indelible mark on the county's impressive campaign.

Already there have been cameos which will stand out in the memory: the carefully-placed pass which sent in D J Carey for the first goal against Offaly in the Leinster final; the meandering but incisive run and knacky ball control which led to his second-half point against Clare.

His physical presence has benefited the attack in general and D J Carey in particular. Carey has made no secret of his happiness at Power's return and is currently enjoying his best season in years.

This has sparked the obvious debate about why he was omitted from last year's team which fell to Offaly in the All-Ireland final and had cried out all season for a physical presence in the attack.

Thunder wasn't long breaking over Fennelly's head. Despite a season which had arguably seen Kilkenny over-perform, the exclusion of Power became a cause celebre in the hands of Eddie O'Connor, captain of the 1993 All-Ireland team and another player included in last year's clearout. The manager resigned.

Power's club form hadn't been hectically good and the previous two seasons with the county had been undermined by injury. Yet there was a strong body of opinion within Kilkenny that someone with his proven capacity at intercounty level should have got a run as his contribution had never been adequately replaced.

It was Fennelly's predecessor, Nicky Brennan, who had the most compelling reason to lament Power as the player suffered illness and injury in the 1996 and '97 seasons, hinting at the impact of his loss by nearly averting the first-round defeat by Wexford after coming on in the second half and a year later making a huge contribution to the second-half resurrection against Galway in Thurles.

"He's a fiercely, competitive player," says Brennan. "He's taken on the best of defenders and likes it hard. His commitment is unbelievable, because he works as he hurls. He's in mixed farming on a lot of land and in a way it's ridiculous to expect him to combine the amount of work he does with the demands of training, but he does it."

Yet the demands of work on his farm have contributed to his physical strength and durability. "He looks like a stick," says Brennan, "but he's made of nails."

When Fennelly stepped down and Brian Cody was appointed his successor, Power's rehabilitation got under way. Cody denies that he made a bee-line for the player. "I didn't really. I had an open mind on players. John is a player I had great respect for throughout his career and I knew he was interested in having a go. I didn't see it as a gamble, I just wanted to bring him back to see how he was going. If it worked, fine; if it didn't, no one had anything to lose.

"We didn't rush anything, he didn't rush anything. He trained and trained and we brought him on in a couple of South-East League matches - he didn't play at all in the (National) League - and talking to him, we knew he was totally focused and mature enough to realise when he would be ready and he's rewarded by how he's played since."