Shefflin resigned to sideline duty

Henry Shefflin is now all but certain to miss his first Championship match in 15 seasons after picking up a stress fracture on his already injured left foot.

The 2012 hurler of the year’s hopes of continuing his proud record of 62 consecutive Championship appearances look extremely uncertain after an MRI scan on Monday confirmed he had damaged his metatarsal or what is medically known as a Lisfranc injury.

Shefflin, 34, speaking at the launch of the Lucozade Sport Club Crusade yesterday, was back in the “space boot” he had been wearing in the aftermath of foot surgery in December.

It had been hoped in Kilkenny this week he might see 20 minutes of action for Ballyhale Shamrocks against Clara in a club league tomorrow evening.

However, those plans have been scrapped and he admits facing Offaly in Kilkenny’s June 9 Leinster quarter-final in Tullamore is an extremely long shot.

“It’s not very likely at the moment. I was back doing a bit of training for the last couple of weeks since I got the pins out.

“Over the weekend, it reacted a small bit. I was in to see the surgeon yesterday and that’s why I’m back in the boot today.

“I have a bit of a stress fracture in my foot. It’s not the original injury. With the injury I had, my foot wasn’t on the ground for three or four months so it means your foot isn’t used to training and it just reacts.

“I’m back in the boot now for another few weeks so it doesn’t look like it, unless they play me full-forward!”

It is the latest in a series of setbacks for the nine-time All-Ireland winner in his recovery from a pre-Christmas operation after the injury in a Leinster club semi-final against Oulart-the-Ballagh in Wexford Park last December.

As revealed by the Irish Examiner on both occasions, Shefflin had suffered a dose of pneumonia as well as an extra operation last month after a complication with the pins in his foot.

He was informed he could ease himself back into training after having the pins removed prior to this past weekend’s disappointment.

“Obviously, the foot is just not ready. I was training with the club and everything on Monday night but it was feeling a bit sore. There’s no point in taking a risk.

“It’s the early stages of a stress fracture which is good, there’s no crack or anything. It’s just resting up for a few weeks and, hopefully, then bang on again. That’s the plan.”

After two cruciate operations and surgery on his shoulder, Shefflin acknowledges his latest injury has been the most difficult to get over but only because it’s the freshest.

“This one has been slow, there’s no doubt about it. It’s definitely a frustrating injury. As well as that, it’s frustrating because you’re feeling it a bit in everyday life.

“It is frustrating but, if you asked me this time last week, I’d have said ‘ah, no, it’s not too bad’. But, unfortunately this week it’s a bit different.”

Shefflin will go back to his surgeon in two or three weeks’ time but he has been ordered to rest up his foot in the meantime.

He can’t say whether he was on course to face Offaly prior to the setback. “I don’t know if I was on track, no, but at least I was in training. I wasn’t in full training. I was building it up slowly but it just wasn’t to be.

“I’m definitely going to be in the boot for a couple of weeks. I haven’t trained with the lads or anything like that.

“The match is four and a half weeks away or something like that at this stage. To be honest, I need to get it right more than anything else, and that’s the plan.”

It was a week after the game against Oulart-the-Ballagh — in fact, at Kilkenny’s All-Ireland medal presentation — that Shefflin realised his injury was serious.

“I went for the x-ray that night in the A&E and it was clear and to be honest I just didn’t want to believe I was injured.

“So I forgot about it for about a week and was going around with a broken mid-foot for a week but I know there was something.

“The following weekend we had our medal presentation and I said it to the team doctor Tadhg Crowley and the physio and I told them it didn’t feel right and I got the MRI the next day and that was it.”

Shefflin was also admitted to St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny in early February after suffering a bout of pneumonia.

“You’ll be putting me down in a second!” he laughed. “Oh I did, I did. Basically I was back from the injury and I’d just picked up an auld cold.

“I think it was after the operation maybe, just the body was a bit weak and picked up a cold and it turned into pneumonia. So I was in hospital then for a few days.

“It’s been interesting! But I’m fine actually, just rested up for a while — I wasn’t feeling great before, and I think it was just my body was probably a bit week.

“I suppose after the last year, it was very busy in the off-season and stuff like that, and sure the club was going and then getting the operation... I think my body was just telling me it wanted a bit of a break. It’s felt good since.”