Maybe they want a new challenge, or maybe they just cannot be satisfied.
Kilkenny hurlers, they’re a different breed.
If you’re ever wondering how this small county in the south east of the country has ruled hurling with an iron Ash Guard glove for 11 of the 16 years of this Millennium, consider their mindset.
Bordered by the likes of Waterford, Wexford, Offaly, Laois and Carlow, it is a bloody-minded refusal to accept anything but perfection that sets them apart from their mediocre-to-poor neighbours.
Take Michael Fennelly. The Ballyhale man has six Celtic Crosses from a 10-year intercounty career, but the midfielder has become the second Kilkenny medal machine in less than a year to call for a complete overhaul of the hurling Championship.
“Realistically, the league should nearly be scrapped and just have a championship starting in April. Get the 10 or 12 teams to play each other once and then go to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final,” he told the Irish Independent.
“At least you’d have a good pre-season, managers want that. It’s January and February – not October, November and December as it is right now. It’s gone into a full-year game and it’s ridiculous.
“Right now, the league has a championship feel to it and lads are trying to peak for February, and March, then again in summer. There are two cycles of peaking and it can’t be done.”
After Richie Hogan, Fennelly becomes the second Kilkenny hurler (a breed not known for their contrarian opinions) to express his dissatisfaction with the status quo.
They seem pretty happy when they win it every year but then the endorphins leave their system and they start to look for a bigger rush, a greater thrill, a fecking challenge.
Last August reigning hurler of the year Richie Hogan also suggested the Championship system is FUBAR.
“I don’t like the system at all,” he told Newstalk’s Off The Ball. “I hate it. I’d rather have a match every two weeks. This year we have played three games and we are in an All-Ireland final. Last year after three games we were in a Leinster final. It’s a stark contrast.”
In fairness, training from pre-Christmas to prepare for a primary summer Championship that – all things going to plan for the men in stripes – will consist of four games does seem FUBAR.
