Enda McEvoy: A front row seat to Kilkenny's past, present and future

It is no leap to view next Sunday as a dry run for the Leinster final. In the event of a Galway defeat the blowback for Shefflin will be negligible. In the event of a Kilkenny defeat the blowback for Cody will not be negligible but it will be temporary. By 9pm on June 4th we’ll know a good deal more about Shefflin the manager.

Glory days: Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin, left, celebrates with manager Brian Cody after the game. GAA Hurling All Ireland Senior Championship Final Replay, Kilkenny v Tipperary. Croke Park, Dublin. Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE

The first time the officers of the Kilkenny county board began to view Henry Shefflin as management material was in the immediate aftermath of the drawn 2012 All-Ireland final. This is not as strange as it may sound.

After all, they’d been observing him in stripes for 13 years at that stage. Why worry about the dim and distant future, and a putative second life on the other side of the whitewash, when the present shimmered with days of silver and gold? A cat in the hand and all of that.