MICHAEL CIAN BE CRUCIAL
O’BYRNE CUP
Offaly Kildare Faithful Fields, 7.45pm
v CIAN O’NEILL says Michael Fennelly is already having quite the impact since taking up his new role with Kildare footballers.
Lilies boss O’neill has a revamped managerial team for his fourth year at the helm.
And his acquisition of Fennelly (above), an eight-time All-ireland hurling winner with Kilkenny, has raised a few eyebrows.
But O’neill explained: “Michael is a performance coach in essence, so he’s going to be working on those hidden intangibles, like your team work, coherence, resilience.
“He’ll be a great aid for me, for the management team, in terms of his observation role but most importantly for the players.
MCKENNA CUP
Derry Tyrone Celtic Park, 8pm
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BY
RORY BRENNAN feels Tyrone can go toe-to-toe with Dublin in 2019 after proving in the All-ireland final that the champions are “human” after all.
The Trillick man started his only Championship game of the year in the decider against the Dubs.
Tyrone lost by six points as Dublin won a four-in-a-row but Brennan (above) claimed: “Definitely Dublin have set the standard and are on a pedestal, but I hope we showed that the gap is closing,.
“I think we showed that teams are closing that bridge between themselves and Dublin, and that Dublin are human at the end of the day, and within arm’s reach.”
Brennan has been named at full-back for tomorrow’s Mckenna
Cup opener against Derry at Celtic Park, where Peter Canavan’s
“He’ll be there to observe them when it matters most, be it training or matches, give feedback, one-on-ones, acting as a conduit between the players and the management.
“It’s kind of a very broad role. We felt that it was somewhere that, especially with the younger guys coming through, that we can make great gains this year.
“Liam Moggan has been in with us for the last number of years and he’s done a fantastic job so it’s just a tweak in that regard.
“We’ve a couple of those tweaks in the backroom so he’s had a big impact in the short period he’s been here so very happy.”
Kildare are back in O’byrne Cup action tonight as they travel to play Offaly at the Faithful Fields in Kilcormac. son Darragh, 18, will be on the bench.
Intriguingly, the trio of Conan Grugan, Kyle Coney and Darren Mccurry – who haven’t been involved for a few years – all start, and Brennan says they’re more than worthy of a second coming.
“I played with Kyle (Coney) in my first year and there is no doubt the quality he has.
“He has been flying on the club scene with Ardboe these last few years and he definitely deserves the chance to stake a claim.”
Brennan is raring to go after a good end to the most recent campaign.
“I came into a bit of form towards the end of the year and got my chance on All-ireland final day.
“When you get a call like that in the days leading up to the game you’re more than ready to step in and I was happy to get it. Hopefully I will try to drive on from there.”