“He’s gone absolutely huge. He was in the army for six months there”

He wore into Daithí Burke.

Kilkenny were a completely different animal in the second half on Sunday. In the first, the Galway defenders were on top. Gearóid McInerney and Daithí Burke were lording the skies while John Hanbury and Aidan Harte mopped up. The loss of Walter Walsh was a hammer blow.

In fairness to the Cats’ forwards, the balls coming into them were few and far between and those that did were a defender’s dream and there wasn’t much they could do. At half-time, Richie Hogan and Colin Fennelly were introduced and things quickly changed.

Richie sat deep, pulled the strings and caused plenty of problems for Gearóid McInerney. This helped Kilkenny gain a stranglehold around the middle. Colin Fennelly went in on the immovable Daithí Burke and stuck it to him.

The Ballyhale Shamrocks forward would be one of the first names on Cody’s team sheet only for the fact he missed the whole League campaign while he was on defence duty in the Lebanon.

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Abrasive and aggressive, the 2014 All-Star is well able to look after himself. Crucially, he’ll pop up with a few scores too. So while Cody has looked to his youngsters all the way up to now, JJ Delaney reasoned that going into Sunday’s do-or-die clash with Limerick, Fennelly and Hogan will be more important than ever.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to move away from these guys. These guys have vital experience,” said JJ on Thursday’s GAA Hour Show.

“Colin is an absolutely brilliant tackler. When you’re trying to get it up into your hand, he’ll always get a hurley in and flick it away, or get in a hook and a block. He’s so accurate, he’s so quick and so strong.”

Fennelly has always been a physical player, and his busying of Burke on Sunday showed just that, but JJ feels he’s put on even more mass in recent times.

“Colin Fennelly is physically strong, I thought he would have been the right guy for Daithí Burke.

“He’s gone massive, I met him there over the weekend, he’s gone absolutely huge. He was in the army for six months there,” he said.

Galway man Damien Hayes was also blown away by the 28-year-old’s sheer brawn, and he joked in that familiar agricultural west of Ireland accent that Fennelly is on the ‘bull-nuts’.

“He’s on the bull-nuts, prime beef, he’s on the bull-nuts,” he joked.

“I’d say Daithí Burke likes a bull-nut himself,” chipped in Wooly.

“Two bull-nuts going it at it,” added JJ.

Enough of the bull-nuts, he’ll be a penny for Michael Casey’s thoughts on Sunday.

“I thought when he went into him, he curved Daithí. Daithí couldn’t really go into it fully because he knew Colin was so quick. He has to start (against Limerick).

If Walter Walsh’s groin injury is as bad as expected, Fennelly’s importance will only ramp up.

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