When the big Ballyhale Shamrocks man went to ground on Saturday in Semple Stadium, it looked like he was initially clutching at his hamstring. It’ll be grand, we thought.
Rumours Saturday night and into Sunday suggested the injury sustained by Michael Fennelly in the All-Ireland senior hurling semi final against Waterford would be somewhat worse.
Those fears were confirmed in a simple tweet from Kilkenny county board on Monday night.
Kilkenny GAA tonight confirm that Ml Fennelly has ruptured his Achilles' tendon & is out of All Irl Final. We wish him well in his recovery.
— Kilkenny GAA (@KilkennyCLG) August 15, 2016
The result of scans today show that Fennelly, a powerhouse in last year’s All-Ireland senior hurling final against Galway and a man Kilkenny could certainly count on in the middle of the park, will indeed miss next month’s encounter with Tipperary.
Rupturing an Achilles tendon can be nasty business. The time between injury and recovery though is the hard part with any kind of heavy weight-loading, running, climbing or footwork ultimately ruled out.
A typical recovery, depending on the extend of the damage, would be around two months but could be anything up to six months, meaning Fennelly could miss out on further club championship action with Ballyhale Shamrocks when the club season resumes, or may not return to action at all until 2017.
Whatever the situation, here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.
Kilkenny will take on Tipperary on Sunday 4 September for this year’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final. Stay tuned to KCLR and keep an eye on the Fanzone for all your Kilkenny updates in the run in to All-Ireland Sunday.
