Is there one more feat in Kilkenny’s warrior king Shefflin?

With eight minutes left in yesterday’s All-Ireland final a face flashed up on the giant screens in Croke Park: pale, intent, following the action surge and swirl between the white lines in front of him.

He was a substitute, but not just any substitute. How could he be when yesterday was a game, but not just any game? Henry Shefflin was being readied for action, preparing to come on and win his tenth senior All-Ireland medal on the field of play: the Kilkenny crowd, seeing his image, roared their approval.

When he finally took his place on the field, with four minutes of regulation time left, the welcome was deafening. At that point the momentum had shifted significantly, however.

Tipperary were on top, hitting four points on the trot to force a replay, and Shefflin only got near the pitch of the play once, on 69 minutes, when he got involved in a ruck for possession before Tipperary cleared the ball.

His manager conceded that the players on the field of play were doing “very well” in general play, which was the reason he’d been so late in bringing Shefflin into action.

“They were doing very well,” said Brian Cody after the game.

“That was the reality. They were playing excellent. We were really going it at the time. There are different calls at different times.”

The Shefflin situation — which sounds a little like a thriller starring Jason Bourne — offers a diverting subplot to your enjoyment of the All-Ireland final replay.

For one thing, it probably contradicts your notions of Brian Cody’s near-Teutonic efficiency that he would put on a player in an All-Ireland final to win a record tenth medal as a participant rather than a sub.

It’s like one of those female villains in Dickens who are finally revealed to have a secret sentimental chamber hidden somewhere in their hearts.

But it raises an interesting challenge for Kilkenny.

If Shefflin, with all the powers and nous at his disposal, is fit to come into an All-Ireland final, is he fit enough to start?

Even allowing for the excellence of a team which managed 3-22 yesterday, Cody and his management must decide if Shefflin would improve their chances if he contributed more than a cameo.

Decisions, decisions. Tennyson’s Ulysses says of his later years, “I am become a name,” famous for feats achieved in his past as a warrior king.

Is there one more feat in Kilkenny’s warrior king?