IAN O'RIORDANtalks to Ballyhale Shamrocks captain Michael Fennelly as his side try to emulate the county team by winning four titles in a row

THEY SAY the only thing more important to a Kilkenny hurler than winning a senior All-Ireland is winning a senior county title. Indeed if that is true, then the only thing that can beat winning four All-Irelands in a row is winning four county titles in a row – which is exactly what Ballyhale Shamrocks are setting out to achieve in Nowlan Park tomorrow afternoon. Just like their Kilkenny counterparts, there’s no suggestion that will be the end of it either.

Kilkenny hurling finals have a tendency to be epic battles, and this one should be no exception. Standing in their way are James Stephens, who before Ballyhale’s current winning streak, won the previous two county titles, in 2004 and ’05. In fact they beat Ballyhale in that ’05 final, and therefore remain the last team to beat them in championship hurling in the four years since.

And if they needed any extra incentive, James Stephens also lost out to Ballyhale in last year’s decider.

But what will no doubt be driving Ballyhale more than anything else is the chance to emulate the only other club in Kilkenny to have won four county titles in a row, Carrickshock – who last achieved it back in the years of 1940-1943. That narrowly pre-dates Kilkenny’s recent feat of emulating Cork’s four senior All-Irelands in a row – which were achieved in the years 1941-1944. And we all know how they love hurling records in Kilkenny.

Yet in typical Kilkenny fashion, no one in Ballyhale is taking anything for granted – nor indeed should they. The team may boast 2009 Kilkenny captain Michael Fennelly, along with such county stars as 2009 All Star Henry Shefflin and former Kilkenny captain James “Cha” Fitzpatrick, but James Stephens boast two 2009 All Stars in Jackie Tyrrell and Eoin Larkin along with former Kilkenny standout Philly Larkin and Donnacha Cody, son of county manager Brian.

On top of all that, the result will decide who gets the captaincy for (whisper it) Kilkenny’s quest for five All-Irelands in a row. That may well be what will decide the result tomorrow.

“There’s really great rivalry there between both clubs,” says Fennelly, who was nominated as Kilkenny captain for 2009 after playing a big role in helping topple James Stephens in last year’s final.

“We just about got through last year so obviously they’ll be hurt by that. I know we were hurt bad by losing to them in 2005. We thought we didn’t do ourselves justice that day, and that’s driven us on over the past number of years. James Stephens would be in the same boat after losing to us last year. They’ll be hurting. So it’ll be a dogged match, and these finals are never easy to win.”

IT IS ALL the more unique that Ballyhale are in a position to win a fourth title in succession at exactly the same time as the county won their fourth All-Ireland in succession – although Fennelly is a little hesitant to make a direct comparison between the two.

“To put the four together would be absolutely super. To do the four in a row with Kilkenny really was a great achievement. You have to raise the bar every year, you have to keep getting better and better, because every team wants to knock you.

“I suppose there is more pressure with the county side because obviously it’s a national event and there’s so much interest in it. You have more media interest and there’s more pressure there. At club level it’s not as bad. You’re only playing three games, that’s one less than the county as well. But we do have a very strong side as well so we’ll be hoping to do it this year as well.”

Ballyhale certainly looked the part once again when beating O’Loughlin Gaels in their semi-final, 4-16 to 2-12, but like any team, they’ve made some changes this year to maintain freshness. After guiding them to the 2007 All-Ireland title, manager Maurice Aylward stepped down in April of last year, following the barnstorming All-Ireland semi-final with eventual champions Portumna.

The new backroom team for 2009 includes former Kilkenny goalkeeper James McGarry, who has made his first foray into management, and so far Fennelly has been well impressed: “Obviously he hurled with Kilkenny this past 10 years or so, and is a great leader. I was privileged enough to be on the same team as him for the three in a row. He gives us great advice. If he sees a weakness in you he’ll say it, always giving you constructive criticism the whole time. He also has great drills, that’s very important, and he’s trying to improve the thing the whole time. He’s a very knowledgeable person. He’s been in pressurised games playing for Kilkenny and you can’t get any better than that as a manager.”

If Ballyhale do pull off the four in a row, the complicated and often sensitive issue of the county captaincy will inevitably be raised. Defender Eamonn Walsh is club captain this year, but is not part of the Kilkenny panel, and even after Fennelly was nominated last year, he ended up losing his place on the Kilkenny team, and only appeared in the All-Ireland final as a second-half substitute.

Reflecting on this, Fennelly has no regrets – nor would he change the way the captaincy is decided, if only because as far as the Kilkenny team are concerned, it’s not that big a deal.

“I’d definitely take it again if I was nominated,” he says, only half joking. “It was a tough year though, because you do want to be playing, and this year I was on and off the team. I found that quite hard. But if you get nominated as captain it is very hard to say no to it. You don’t know what is going to happen next year. You could turn down the role, then play every game, and you’d feel like a fool, really.

“But lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup in Croke Park is a super feeling, and I’d love to have every lad on the Kilkenny team do that. Right now we have TJ and Eoin Reid on our team, and they haven’t done it yet. But we are not looking down that route. Except it would be nice to have a Ballyhale captain next year.

“But I don’t think Brian Cody has any issue with the captaincy. There are so many leaders in the Kilkenny team it doesn’t really matter who is captain, because they are all taking responsibility, all in there in the dressingroom before the game encouraging and standing up and talking. There are great leaders there. So the captaincy is just going up to do a toss before the game. That’s the way it has gone in Kilkenny anyway.”

We’ll get to see exactly how true that is after the toss at a 3pm tomorrow.