Brian Cody’s return a welcome boost for Kilkenny ahead of championship opener

With their opening championship match against Offaly less than a fortnight away, things have been moving quickly for All-Ireland hurling champions Kilkenny. Manager Brian Cody returned to training at the weekend for the first time since cardiac surgery nearly two months ago.

Against that the last two hurlers of the year, Henry Shefflin and Michael Fennelly are both ruled out for the match. Shefflin went public on his aggravated foot injury the week before last whereas Fennelly spoke about his ankle injury yesterday while welcoming back the manager who has delivered nine All-Ireland titles in 13 years.

“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 Martin (Fogarty, assistant manager) and Mick (Dempsey, trainer) have held the camp together well.”

There was no fanfare when Cody returned on Sunday, according to Fennelly. "No he 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."

Share of injuries
Fennelly has had his share of injuries in the past two years – ankle, hamstring and broken bone in the hand – and the recent setback is particularly frustrating after his man-of-the-match display in the league final defeat of Tipperary during which he played at centre forward.

The week before last he went over on his ankle in a club match, an injury he had sustained in his other leg last year.

“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.”

His previous problem meant he recognised what had happened and was anxious before the damage was diagnosed.

“It was a worry because I went over on it in a similar way on the outside of it this time and it felt the same I thought I could be gone for three months which might be the whole championship.

“I got a bit of a fright but thankfully it’s not as bad as that because the ligament on the outside is not as big as the one on the inside but it could still be three, four or five weeks.”

He also spoke about the retirement of John Tennyson, a six-time All-Ireland medal winner, who has struggled to get over cruciate ligament injuries, who announced that he was pulling stumps in the past few days.

“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."

Michael Fennelly was speaking at the launch of the GAA/GPA Youth Camps, which offer an opportunity for teenagers to train with and meet intercounty players.

For detailed information: www.elverysyouthcamps.gaa.ie.