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Hurling

'That'd give me fear' | Michael Fennelly hoping for heads up on GAA return

Offaly hurling boss Michael Fennelly says he is in no rush for GAA to return, as long a decent am...



'That'd give me fear' | Michae...
Hurling

'That'd give me fear' | Michael Fennelly hoping for heads up on GAA return

Offaly hurling boss Michael Fennelly says he is in no rush for GAA to return, as long a decent amount of warning is giving to teams ahead of the re-start.

The former Kilkenny star, who announced his retirement from playing club with Ballyhale Shamrocks last month,  joined Eoin and Ger this morning, and spoke about how the last couple of months have been for his Faithful side.

"Similar to most teams the first five or six weeks we were using social media and techonology to keep connected. We did a juggling challenge to see who could juggle for seven seconds!

"It's probably easy for someone who can juggle but for someone who hasn't done it before, it was probably quite challenging. Probably half the team couldn't do it, well couldn't do it initially but after the two weeks of practicing we got there. That was quite fun and entertaining!

"We had a nutrition challenge in terms of bake-offs as well. At six weeks we had enough done... I was very conscious of getting the balance right. Players needed to switch off, and at inter-county the thing becomes very robotic."

The 35-year-old, who was Hurler of the Year in 2011, added that as long as inter-county sides are given a heads up way ahead of a return to games he will be satisfied.

"I'd love to get back at some stage. When it's right, it's right - I'm not pushing any kind of timeframe or anything like that. The GAA will let us know in due time.

"If they decided inter-county was to come back in three or four weeks, that would never happen anyway, but that would give me fear to be honest.

"You can't go from one extreme to the other. If it does happen the club scene is a great roadmap because they can get training under their belts, start building themselves gradually, and start playing matches.

"Hopefully inter-county will kick in later in the year, that's how I would foresee it happening.

"We're in the Christy Ring at the moment, there aren't as many teams compared to the Liam MacCarthy, so we wouldn't have as many games. That would be easier to manage, and if it's knock-out it wouldn't bother me in the slightest."

Fennelly is part of a group raising funds for Down Syndrome Offaly and JIGSAW this Saturday night at an online Offaly Hurling event. Michael's novelty act is as 'MarTina Turner'  - you can support his fundraising efforts by clicking here.

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Down Syndrome Offaly Eoin Sheahan GAA Ger Gilroy Jigsaw Kilkenny Michael Fennelly Offaly Offaly GAA Otb Am