PUCK FARE:WERE Henry Shefflin's cruciate injury to keep him out of this weekend's final, it would bring to an end one of his remarkable records of consistent scoring, writes Seán Moran.

In the year in which he broke Eddie Keher’s career aggregate of 35-337 (432) the Ballyhale forward needs just six more points to secure a place in this year’s top five scorers in the hurling championship, which would be the sixth straight season and the 11th time in 12 years that he has achieved that level.

Six points is also what separates another finalist, Eoin Kelly (pictured), from top spot in this year’s scoring charts. If the Tipperary shooter manages to rack that up, he will pip Offaly’s Shane Dooley to the honour.

This would be for the first time since 2002, which was the only season in which Kelly managed the feat. Since 2001, Kelly has missed out on the top five just once, two years ago when his Waterford namesake came first.

Should that happen and if Tipp were to win, it will be only the second time in 12 seasons that the championship’s undisputed leading marksman has ended up with an All-Ireland medal. Shefflin managed the feat in 2006 but before that you had to go back to Offaly’s John Troy in 1998 for the last time that the All-Ireland winners provided the top scorer. Cork’s Joe Deane was joint-top (with Shefflin in his rookie year) in 1999.

Bookies taking no chance on Cats

IT’S no surprise that Kilkenny are such short odds to record a record five-in-a-row on Sunday. However if you think prices like 4 to 11 (Paddy Powers and Boylesports) are tight, the county minors are even tighter odds with Boylesports offering 1 to 10 and Paddy Powers 1 to 12 for the Kilkenny youngsters to beat Clare.

It’s now four years since the senior All-Ireland was won by outsiders. In that year, the first of Kilkenny’s current sequence, Cork were favoured to win the three-in-a-row just as two years previously Kilkenny were fancied to chalk up the same sequence only to lose to Cork.