KILKENNY FORWARD Richie Power is not only convinced Brian Cody will be back in charge next season, but says the entire Kilkenny team, including Henry Shefflin, will be back be in 2011, fitter, stronger and hungrier. The rest of the country has been forewarned.
"I have no doubt Brian will stay on,” says Power. “We are all hoping he does stay on. I think there is only one player, Michael Kavanagh, who has played under a different manager. And Brian’s record speaks for itself. He is a fantastic manager. I am sure he is planning already for next year. I have no doubt about that. The defeat will have hit him hard and hurt him as much as it hurt the players. He will be back stronger. He will definitely freshen things up next year. I have no doubt that things will be a lot better.
“I suppose it’s the first year since 2005 we have experienced a defeat, and going into a new season when we are not reigning champions. Again it will freshen things up, and I suppose when we go back training at the beginning of January, you will realise that September is your aim again. That’s exactly what we’ll aim for, and it’s a level playing field again.”
Power actually enjoyed his best season to date in 2010, but unfortunately for him it didn’t coincide with Kilkenny winning the All-Ireland. Yet that adds further incentive for next year: “I suppose since 2005 I have been plagued with injuries and thankfully this year I have had a clean run at it.
“It was nice on a personal level but when you don’t win the All-Ireland it doesn’t really matter when you look back over the year how well you played or how badly you played. You want to win the All-Ireland and unfortunately we didn’t do it this year. We will regroup and come back hopefully stronger next year. It was also my sixth year on the panel and it is maybe about time you take over a bit of the leadership and start really helping the team.”
The big question in Kilkenny – outside of Cody’s apparently inevitable return – is whether Shefflin can come back the player he was, have recently undergone a second cruciate surgery, this time on his left knee. Yet again, however, Power is more than confident. “I suppose Henry was unfortunate, after what he put his body through to get himself right to play in that All-Ireland. I don’t think anyone will ever know the full extent that he pushed himself to. Just like John Tennyson. Unfortunately it was a strong possibility it could happen, and break down at any stage once he had taken to the field. It was a disappointment to him on a personal level.
“But I have no doubt he will come back stronger than ever because that is the way Henry is. He came back stronger than ever after his last cruciate operation. There is definitely another couple of years in Henry and we will be delighted to see him back next year. We all knew at the back of our minds it was a strong possibility that it could happen. It was the same with John Tennyson. But it just goes to show because John Tennyson got through the game okay and Henry only lasted 10 minutes. It was a toss of a coin really.”
Like most of his Kilkenny team mates, Power helped put the All-Ireland defeat to bed by diving into the club championship, and last weekend helped Carrickshock to a surprising quarter-final win over James Stephens last Sunday.
“We had a great win,” he says. “I don’t think many people gave us a chance. James Stephens were after beating Ballyhale the weekend previous, in the league final. They were serious contenders. We knew if we hurled well going in that we would be there with a shout, and we thankfully put in a great performance. We pulled off a bit of a shock. It was great to win it but we are only in a semi-final so it’s important we don’t get carried away.”
They’ll next play Erin’s Owen, Castlecomer, in the semi-final, and with Ballyhale in the other half of a draw – and chasing a fifth successive county title – there is a lot of hurling to be done. “Everyone is aiming at the level Ballyhale are at. It’s an incentive for us to stop them. There’s great rivalry there. It’s all friendly banter. But it would be nice to stop them.”
