Shefflin ‘moving very well’
Gone is the stifling five-in-a-row talk and the excited chatter of expectant fans — all 8,000 of them — tripping over one another to get into Nowlan Park for a mere training session.
The circus that was Kilkenny’s 2010 All-Ireland final build up has well and truly moved on, shifted down the road to Thurles. Thankfully for Cats fans, the ring leader is still very much in town. Henry Shefflin.
It was he, of course, that those 8,000 fans turned out to witness as he miraculously pulled through a training spin despite serious cruciate trouble to declare his fitness for the final.
A year on, Shefflin is enjoying a far more low key and, one presumes, enjoyable run in to their latest final.
Crucially, as 2010 teammate Derek Lyng notes, their inspirational leader is fully fit this time and bounding through the long grass towards final day, ready to pounce.
“Definitely as good as ever,” enthused Lyng.
“Even in the All-Ireland semi-final, his work rate and how he got around the place was first class. He took three fantastic scores in the second half.
“He does it at times when Kilkenny need him as well. That’s the thing. He always steps up to it. When Kilkenny need a score, he’s generally one you can rely on, so thankfully he’s back in top form. He seems to be moving very well.”
Lyng still retains the mental image of Shefflin hobbling out of last year’s final after just 13 minutes, his knee having given him a false confirmation of fitness at Nowlan Park.
“Him going off definitely didn’t help our case,” reflected Lyng, who came on as a substitute in the eight point defeat.
“But, looking back on it, Tipperary were outstanding last year. I don’t know if anything we could have done would have beaten them. They just hit the ground running and any break they got they took it in fairness to them.
“Look, you could go back and say ‘things would have been different if this happened and that happened’ but you just don’t know.”
Former Tipperary defender and 2001 All-Ireland winner Eamonn Corcoran looked on from the stands too as Shefflin’s knee painfully crumpled last September, heralding his exit.
“I remember even the reaction of the crowd, the Tipp supporters stood up and clapped, probably relief in a way,” said Corcoran.
“I know it’s not great to say that and, in fairness, you were thinking, ‘as long as Henry’s all right’. But, from our point of view, to have their leader going off the field we got a lift, even as supporters. It was, ‘we have a chance now of winning this’. Any big player going off is going to give the whole thing a lift.”
The Shefflin situation may privately provide the Tipp players with an extra motivation this year — to beat Kilkenny, and to do it with the great man at the peak of his powers and still standing at full-time.
“There was always going to be that question after last year — if Henry was playing for the full 60 or 70 minutes what would have happened?” accepted Corcoran.
“That’s sport. It’s great now that, fingers crossed, both teams will be at full strength. Take Henry Shefflin out of any team, take Eoin Kelly or Larry Corbett out of Tipperary, there is always going to be that question mark when your key player goes about what might have been.”
It’s Corcoran’s opinion that even with Shefflin on the field, Tipp would have won last year.
“In my view, that day, from the word go, I just couldn’t see Tipp being beaten,” he continued.
“I remember the year before I met the lads in the Burlington Hotel after they’d lost the final and they just couldn’t wait to get back and redeem themselves.
“Funnily enough, that’s the same situation you find Kilkenny in this year.
“It’s a worry because they left Croke Park last year, brought the team holiday forward, done a lot of things differently and made sure they’re ready for this. So it’s a bit like the reverse of what happened last year.”
*Hurling Championship co-sponsors Guinness and Newstalk radio will jointly host hurling supporters’ events this Sunday at Coppingers Bar, Thurles and the Sceilp Inn, Kilkenny.
