Shefflin: the perfect end to our season

IT was the 110th Kilkenny county final, the 10th title for Ballyhale Shamrocks, their first since 1991, but the most significant number in Nowlan Park yesterday? It was Henry Shefflin’s first.

King Henry, as some have now taken to calling the multiple Kilkenny All-star, one of the most honour-laden players in the game. “Ah lads, don’t call me that, please!”, he pleads, before talking about what this means to him, especially after losing last year’s decider. “Words can’t describe how I felt this time last year, so I’m delighted, obviously, it makes it a bit sweeter. It’s something I’ve been missing, something I’ll cherish. I grew up in Ballyhale, grew up with all the Fennellys — the Shamrocks winning, my brothers winning, county finals and All-Ireland finals. Back then I would have felt it would come nice and handy, little did I think I’d have to wait so long. It’s very sweet, very personal, your parents are out on the field, your family, your girlfriend, just an unbelievable feeling, very close to the heart.”

As usual, Henry finished up with a lorry-load of scores, 10 points to be precise, six from frees (including a bomb from his own 63m line), four from play. This wasn’t a day for individual heroics, however; though Cha Fitzpatrick, their other 2006 Allstar-in-waiting also had a big game, as had his fellow midfielder and county senior panellist Michael Fennelly, this was a team win by the men from Ballyhale/Knocktopher/Knockmoylan.

“We said going out it wasn’t about individuals, it was about team effort. In the second half we were panicking a bit, last year’s defeat was probably in the back of the mind, we wanted to hear the final whistle when we should have kept on playing, but they were going to come at us at some stage.”!

Cha Fitzpatrick hasn’t waited as long as Henry for his first senior medal, but it wasn’t any less sweet.

Kilkenny title in the bag, how far can this team go?

“How long is a piece of string?” replies manager Maurice Aylward. “They can definitely develop into the best team in Ireland in another year or two, a lot of talent there, a lot of talent coming through.”