I’ll never match King Henry, says TJ Reid

He’s the reigning hurler of the year and arguably the most important player in the game, but TJ Reid says comparisons with Henry Shefflin are way off, insisting his clubmate and former Kilkenny colleague will always be “the king”.

Reid’s development has accelerated in the past two seasons and meant that, while Kilkenny lost 10-time All-Ireland medallist Shefflin to retirement last march, they had a near like-for-like replacement in Reid. The 28-year old centre-forward has bulked up in recent seasons and has taken his general play to new levels, with 4-32 scored throughout last year’s championship.

His value to the team is such that Ger Loughnane recently said the back-to-back All-Ireland champions are “totally dependent on TJ Reid, one forward, and maybe Richie Hogan as well”.