Ger Fennelly
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| Ger Fennelly | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Sport | Hurling | |
| Irish Name | Gearóid Ó Fionnalaigh | |
| Full name | Gerard Fennelly | |
| Place of birth | Piltown , County Kilkenny | |
| Club information | ||
| Club | Ballyhale Shamrocks | |
| Position | Half-forwrad | |
| Inter-County | ||
| County | Kilkenny | |
| Position | Half-forward | |
| Inter-County(ies)** | ||
| County | Years | Apps (scores) |
| Kilkenny | 1974-1987 | |
| Senior Inter-County Titles | ||
| Leinster Titles | 8 (2 as sub) | |
| All-Ireland | 5 (2 as sub) | |
| All Stars | 1 | |
|
* club appearances and scores |
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Ger Fennelly (born 1954) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with his local club Ballyhale Shamrocks and with the Kilkenny senior inter-county team in the 1970s and 1980s.
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[edit] Early life
Ger Fennelly was born in Piltown, County Kilkenny in 1954. At the age of seven his family moved to Ballyhale where his father had bought a farm. From an early age Fennelly and his six brothers – Michael, Kevin, Brendan, Liam, Seán and Dermot – all took a great interest in the game of hurling. It was at Ballyhale national school that they first played the game and, in time, all the Fennelly boys would go on to play for club and county.
[edit] Playing career
[edit] Club
In his youth Fennelly quickly became a member of the newly-formed Ballyhale Shamrocks club, a club which is father helped to found. He had much success with the club, beginning by winning three county titles with the Ballyhale minor hurling team. Fennelly later won four county medals with the club’s under-21 team also and this laid the foundation for the great senior team of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1978 Fennelly was a key member of the senior team when Ballyhale won their first county title. This was later converted into a Leinster club title, however, Ballyhale were narrowly beaten by Blackrock in the All-Ireland final.
Fennelly added two further county medals to his collection in 1979 and 1980. In the latter year he won a second Leinster title before finally winning his first All-Ireland club title at the beginning of 1981. In 1982 and 1983 he won another brace of county championship medals. The 1983 win was once again converted into a Leinster title as well as a second All-Ireland club title at the start of 1984. Fennelly brought his county championship tally up to eight with wins in 1985, 1988 and 1989. In 1989 he also won his fourth Leinster club medal before converting this into his third All-Ireland club title. On the occasion of the final all seven Fennelly brothers lined out for Ballyhale, a record which will probably never be beaten. Fennelly won his ninth county medal with Ballyhale in 1991.
[edit] Inter-county
Fennelly’s hurling skills were quickly noted and he joined the Kilkenny minor hurling panel in the early 1970s. It was a glorious era for the county’s minor hurling team as they dominated the minor provincial championship for the entire decade. In 1972 Fennelly won an All-Ireland medal with the minor team, before graduating onto the Kilkenny under-21 side. Here he enjoyed further success, winning back-to-back Leinster and All-Ireland titles in 1974 (as captain) and in 1975.
By 1974 Fennelly had joined the Kilkenny senior hurling panel. He was a substitute when Kilkenny won back-to-back senior All-Ireland titles in 1974 and 1975. By 1978 Fennelly was a full member of the team and he won his first senior Leinster title. Unfortunately Kilkenny were later defeated by Cork in the All-Ireland final. In 1979 Fennelly was captain when he won a second Leinster title, before claiming his first senior All-Ireland title following a win over Galway. The following two years saw ‘the Cats’ lose out to Offaly in Leinster, however, Fennelly’s side returned at the start of 1982 to win the National Hurling League. His side later went on to win another Leinster title before defeating Cork to win his second senior All-Ireland medal.
In 1983 Kilkenny completed the treble of National League, Leinster and All-Ireland victories once again. His performance throughout the championship earned him his only All-Star award. In 1986 Fennelly won his third and final National League title before claiming a fifth provincial medal. His side were later defeated by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. In 1987 Fennelly won a sixth Leinster medal with Kilkenny, however, his side were later beaten by Galway once again. That game represented a swansong for the Fennelly family as Ger, Kevin, Seán and Liam all played that day. It also proved to be Ger Fennelly’s last game at inter-county level as he retired shortly afterwards.
| Preceded by Martin O'Doherty (Cork) |
All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Final winning captain 1974 |
Succeeded by Kevin Fennelly (Kilkenny) |
| Preceded by Ger Henderson |
Kilkenny Senior Hurling Captain 1979 |
Succeeded by Richie Reid |
| Preceded by Charlie McCarthy (Cork) |
All-Ireland Senior Hurling Final winning captain 1979 |
Succeeded by Joe Connolly (Galway) |
[edit] Teams
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