Henry Shefflin plays waiting game on Kilkenny future

Henry Shefflin has offered a glimmer of hope that he will continue to hurl for Kilkenny, admitting there’d be no decision to make if his club form wasn’t so good.

The 10-time All-Ireland medallist intends on keeping the hurling world guessing about his inter-county future until as late as the end of March.

But those who want the 36-year-old to continue will be enthused that he’s enjoying his club hurling so much with Ballyhale Shamrocks. They’ve qualified for the AIB All-Ireland club final on St Patrick’s Day and Shefflin said he’s likely to confirm his Kilkenny future in the days after that match.

The father of four insisted he doesn’t know what the decision will be, though admitted if things were going poorly at club level, the answer would be straightforward.

“If I was very much struggling with the club and not at the pace of the game, everyone would know then what the answer is going to be,” said Shefflin, man of the match in the recent club semi-final defeat of Gort.

“It’s different when you’re enjoying it. I’m injury free. So I don’t know. I’m enjoying playing with the club. I’ve got a great buzz out of the club campaign. That might be because I didn’t play much last year.

“It’s a different environment being a sub (for Kilkenny). I don’t think any of us like being a sub. If you get a feel for playing, you want to keep playing.”

Shefflin hit out in December following the Leinster club final at people trying to ‘pressure’ him into retirement. He appeared exasperated by the line of questioning at times yesterday at the launch of the Topaz Cash for Clubs initiative. “You’re trying to put me to the pin of my collar,” he said at one point when asked why he hadn’t simply clarified his situation by now.

Asked again later how soon after St Patrick’s Day he will confirm his Kilkenny plans, he gasped, ‘Oh my God, come on! Look, I won’t be ringing you the following day. I don’t know. I would imagine within a couple of weeks I’ll definitely have a decision made. And I’ll have to, because obviously at that stage it’s the end of March, so it’s getting fairly serious then. Look, we won’t delay you too long.”