The sight of Shefflin on Galway’s sideline will antagonise Kilkenny

Inside Track with John McIntyre

HENRY Shefflin knew when he signed up for the Galway hurling manager’s post last Autumn that this day was always coming. And it will come to pass at Pearse Stadium on Sunday when he will cross swords with the county he served so brilliantly and loyally for the first time.

Since Galway were accepted into the Leinster championship in 2009, the big game in the province quickly became their clashes with Kilkenny. Counties like Offaly and Wexford didn’t want the Tribesmen coming east, but something had to be done to make the title race more competitive. Year after year, the Cats were doing what they wanted – winning the Bob O‘Keeffe Cup in 10 of the previous 11 campaigns.

But the stand-out fixture in Leinster has been given added spice by Shefflin’s presence on the Galway sideline in 2022. A winner of 10 All-Ireland senior medals during a period of unprecedented dominance by one county, the Ballyhale man repeatedly delivered on the big day.

Kilkenny had many superb players in their ranks – great hurlers of the calibre of JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh, Michael Fennelly, Eoin Larkin and Eddie Brennan – but Shefflin was their leader. The man who regularly stamped his authority on the action in periods of crisis, notably the drawn 2012 All-Ireland final against Galway.

After retirement, he took over as manager of Ballyhale and guided them to two club All-Irelands. With Kilkenny’s last McCarthy Cup triumph coming in 2015 and some local disgruntlement over Brian Cody – for all his many victories – overstaying his welcome, it appeared only a matter of time before Shefflin became the Noresiders’ supremo.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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