Loughnane: injuries could derail Cats' All-Ireland bid
May 12, 2012The Cats have been installed as hot favourites to win the All-Ireland following their demolition of Cork in last Sunday's Allianz League final, but speaking at the launch of RTE's 2012 Championship coverage, the former Clare manager - who is returning to our TV screens as a pundit this summer - expressed concerns about their ability to overcome injuries to Michael Fennelly, Richie Power, Aidan Fogarty and Henry Shefflin.
"If you just looked strictly at the league final, you would have to say that Kilkenny are overwhelming favourites to win the championship. But Michael Fennelly, their most influential player, and that is among many influential players, is injured.
"There are doubts over when Fennelly, Richie Power and Henry Shefflin will be back, and if Shefflin is back will he be in the same form as before. They haven't played in a long time and when they do come back and Kilkenny play their first game, likely to be against Dublin on June 23, what will their form be?
"There are questions over Kilkenny and very often times when you play well in a league or a league final, you find it hard to repeat that level of intensity and the quality of that play when it comes to the championship.
"Other teams have been lying low and haven't pushed themselves in the league. Maybe when it starts we will see some team playing the kind of hurling they haven't played so far this year. You never know, all we know want early on is a shock and that is what would really make the championship."
Loughnane feels an All-Ireland contender could emerge from the chasing pack.
"Galway are being linked with the future as are Limerick, Clare, Cork and Waterford and Wexford. So there are so many teams bidding for the future. I found with Clare that we were always going for the future but actually the future happened that year," he continued.
"It can happen like that, with the players making huge advances when the training season starts from April to June. Maybe there is some team out there making massive progress and we'll see something from them that we haven't seen before." Tweet
