All done, but Shefflin's out for more

CHAMPIONSHIP 2009 NEWS ROUND-UP:PERHAPS IT'S just his colourful polo shirt and stone-washed jeans but Henry Shefflin still looks like the new kid on the block. Hard to believe he's 10 years hurling with Kilkenny, his reputation as one of the best in the business still intact, and the scary thing being he's hungry for more.

Six All-Irelands, eight All Stars, and nine Leinster titles are just some of the honours won over those 10 years, but chatting with Shefflin at the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin yesterday you’d think he’d nothing won, that Kilkenny needed to prove themselves all over again this summer.

“I can still remember setting off against Laois, in 1999,” he says. “That was such a big occasion for me, my first championship match for Kilkenny. I was just thrilled to be playing on a senior team for Kilkenny. Did I ever think what would happen from that? No way.

“But it’s something you can only reflect on in time. When you’re playing you just try to enjoy it, take each year as a new one. But to be fair we have had a very successful period. It’s beyond our wildest dreams what’s after happening the last few years.”

What’s after happening is that Kilkenny have put themselves in line for a first four-in-a-row All-Ireland since Cork’s run of 1941-’44. They’re hotly fancied to do it, yet Shefflin, naturally, is not looking that far ahead – particularly as Kilkenny don’t know yet who they face in their Leinster semi-final on June 20th.

“Ideally we’d prefer if we did know. But you can only prepare and worry about yourself at the end of the day, and that’s what we’re planning on doing. But there wasn’t any talk of three-in-a-row last year until we got to the final. You have to put yourself in position first. We also know, as All-Ireland champions you’re always there to be shot down.

“And it’s all about the panel of players. I think the league final showed that. We’d a couple of injuries, a couple of yellow cards, yet showed the talent is still there, no doubt about that. Unfortunately you can only put 15 out on the field, but that’s the benefit Brian Cody has, in that we’re all competing for places. That’s the main aim of each of us first.”

Shefflin also supports the inclusion of Galway and Antrim in the Leinster championship this year.

“To be fair I think Galway, and Antrim, needed it,” he said, “and it is good for hurling as a whole. And no matter what, we’ll have two very competitive Leinster semi-finals this year. It’s no different to the Munster championship really, with Antrim in there as well, in that all matches will be competitive.

“And it’s raised the challenge for us as well. Galway are a quality team. It’s something new, as well as something good, and I think everyone knows it will be more competitive.

“And I think this year’s structure as a whole will be very good. And winning Leinster is just as important to us. For ourselves or for Galway or anyone, you want to get to the All-Ireland final as quickly as possible, so there’s definitely a benefit in winning the provincial title.”

Shefflin’s interest in the National League final earlier this month was cut short because of the experimental yellow-card rule – and no surprise then that he’s glad to see the back of it.

“Well I think it is a benefit that the yellow-card rules are gone. I’m not one to be going saying what they should do, rule wise.

“Certain aspects of it were good, but it would need to be structured a little better. I mean a player going out and maybe making a silly mistake, and then gone from a championship match, is probably not of benefit to anyone.”

Kilkenny face the winners of Dublin-Antrim, Galway-Laois or Offaly-Wexford, but the challenge, says Shefflin, only begins then.

“It’s about having the consistency over the course of the summer, to keep it going, that’s where it’s at.”