Ballyhale Shamrocks ‘a tired team’ is just a myth, insists Henry Shefflin

It is closing in on 20 years since Henry Shefflin and several of his Ballyhale Shamrocks colleagues first pulled on an adult jersey for the club.

That is remarkable longevity, though in the eyes of AIB All-Ireland Club final opponents Kilmallock it will more likely be viewed as a potential weak point to be probed on St Patrick’s Day.

Kilkenny icon Shefflin himself turned 36 recently, midfielder Bob Aylward will be 37 this year, while defenders Paul Shefflin and Aidan Cummins have a combined age of 70.

Still, they have yet to be seriously exposed by any opposition and Shefflin views it as one of the great myths of club hurling that Ballyhale are a tired team.

“Everyone attaches so much to age,” said Shefflin. “Bob Aylward didn’t have a great game in the Leinster final and people said, ‘Oh, his age, he’s past it’. But he was brilliant there in the All-Ireland semi-final so it’s, ‘He’s a great lad again’.

“If a younger player does that kind of performance, there’s nothing said about it. He just had a bad day or a good day, whatever.

“Generally, lads are fresh. We’ve been very lucky this year, training has gone very well and we’ve had no major injuries.

“None of the inter-county players have been injured either. In the last few years we did have that so in that sense it’s been very positive.”

Shefflin accepts it is incredible he and the elder players on the team have given the bones of 20 years’ service to Ballyhale.

“We all would have started out around ’95, ’96 so it’s that length of time alright – it’s amazing,” he said. “We’ve been very lucky to be so successful. The funny thing is; the outside probably think Ballyhale is a big place, but it’s a very small place. We’ve had two successful teams over the last 40 or 50 years.”

Naturally enough, everyone in Ballyhale wants to know if 10-time All-Ireland medallist Shefflin will continue to play hurling beyond club level this year.

“People on the street will mention it alright,” he said. “It’s, ‘Ah, stay on’ or ‘leave now, it’s the right time to go’. That’s people’s opinion. I’m used to it at this stage, whether they are advising you on hurling or whatever it is. It’s in one ear and out the other. You take everyone’s opinion but it’s your own decision.”

According to Shefflin, the result against Kilmallock won’t affect his inter-county decision. “It won’t, because I’m very comfortable with hurling. I’m enjoying it, it won’t matter either way,” he stressed.

“People might think, ‘If you win, it will be a nice way to go’. But it won’t be like that. All my previous team-mates who left said the same thing. It was their own circumstances that dictated. So it will be the same thing for me.”

Shefflin’s chances of a clean sweep of All-Ireland Club and county titles in the space of seven months have been helped by a positive injury update on James ‘Cha’ Fitzpatrick. The former MacCarthy Cup-winning captain has a shoulder problem, but Shefflin played down the complaint.

“I don’t think it’s too bad, it’s just a knock,” said Shefflin. “Everyone else is good as far as I know.”