Cats move to centre stage in Theatre of Dreams

KILKENNY centre-forward Henry Shefflin has taken to calling Croke Park The Theatre of Dreams, and so it was for the Leinster champions yesterday as they put the nightmare of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Galway well and truly behind them.

Old Trafford has the bigger hype machine, but if we continue to get the kind of fare we got yesterday in this new/old stadium with at least as much history as anything across the water, then more and more kids will surely grow up with the same ambition the Ballyhale Shamrocks had when he was a youngster.

"It was a thrilling game, very sporting, though I couldn't really enjoy it, my tongue was hanging out," he laughed. "We know a lot of the Tipp lads, they know us, so you go out to enjoy it as best you can. We're all hurlers at the end of the day, in Croke Park, Theatre of Dreams. That's what we grew up dreaming of, to go out in Croke Park and test each other on days like this."