Kilkenny shares Shefflin’s pain

LEADING Kilkenny GAA figures last night rallied around crestfallen star Henry Shefflin and insisted he will return to full fitness from a fresh cruciate injury blow.

The Cats’ legend has been ruled out of next month’s All-Ireland hurling final after a scan and consultation yesterday with renowned surgeon Dr Tadhg O’Sullivan at the Whitfield Clinic in Waterford. Shefflin sustained the damage to his left knee during the first-half of Sunday’s semi-final win over Cork, the second occasion he has endured such agony after tearing the cruciate in his right knee during the 2007 All-Ireland final. Shefflin will now be denied the chance of a record ninth All-Ireland senior hurling medal on the field of play in the September 5 showdown and last night expressed his devastation at the news.

“I am so disappointed I don’t know how I feel. I was hoping against hope that it was something else but the surgeon has confirmed my worst fears. I heard some pop. I had an idea I was in a bit of trouble but I was hoping it wasn’t what I feared it might be. I am devastated.”

Shefflin added he had no definite surgery plans at this stage. The loss of their talismanic attacker is a massive blow to Kilkenny but county GAA secretary Ned Quinn last night predicted that Shefflin will still play a major role in their preparations for the final.

“The determination is there anyway to win the All-Ireland title but I believe they’ll want to win it even more now for Henry. It’s a devastating blow for the player and all our thoughts in Kilkenny are with him now. I’ve been watching hurling for nearly 50 years now and he’s the greatest player I’ve ever seen. He works hard for the team, is great in the dressing- room, provides leadership on the pitch and is the main scorer. He’s the complete package. I’ve no doubt that Henry will be part of the dressing-room in the build-up to the game, given the commitment he has showed to Kilkenny in the past. A number of Kilkenny players have suffered cruciate injuries, including Henry, in recent years but all came back. I’ve no doubt he will do the same.”

Kilkenny U21 hurling boss Michael Walsh insists that Shefflin will overcome this huge setback and return to the intercounty scene next season.

“The type of leadership he has shown over the last few years suggests to me that he will be back. It’s going to be very sad and disappointing for him over the next few weeks but that will ease and he’ll look forward. It’s a desperate situation for him to miss out just before an All-Ireland final. The one thing that strikes me as well is that if any player deserved the five-in-a-row, it was Henry. I think there’ll be a huge amount of sympathy for him, not just in Kilkenny, but everywhere in the county. Everyone wants to see the great players in All-Ireland finals.”

In a freakish twist of fate for Shefflin the injury occurred in the same area of the Croke Park pitch, between the 20 and 45-yard lines at the Davin End side of the field, where he tore his cruciate in 2007. He joins fellow cruciate victim John Tennyson on the sidelines.

One bright bit of news for Kilkenny is that centre-back Brian Hogan is likely to recover in time for the All-Ireland decider despite suffered a shoulder injury on Sunday. It was feared that the O’Loughlin Gaels man had suffered a recurrence of the broken collarbone which kept him out during last season but a scan yesterday revealed that the injury is not serious.