Shefflin: we expected Waterford challenge

THE strength of the challenge which champions and favourites Kilkenny encountered against Waterford in Croke Park yesterday didn’t surprise the players, leading scorer and man-of-the-match Henry Shefflin remarked afterwards.

There wasn’t, he claimed, a belief among his team mates that yesterday going to be a repeat of what happened in last year’s decider, adding that Davy Fitzgerald’s well-prepared team had performed more or less as they expected them to.

“Everyone knew last year’s All-Ireland final was a one-off occasion,” he commented.