FINAL COUNTDOWN:THE RIVALRY between the All-Ireland finalists' top marksmen, Joe Canning and Henry Shefflin, which was fleetingly redirected to the Galway forward's remarks about Kilkenny gamesmanship two weeks ago, moves back to the more familiar setting of the hurling field on Sunday.

Canning may have some distance to travel to emulate Shefflin’s career feats but he has started well. The Kilkenny forward, who is still on the threshold of a record ninth All-Ireland medal won on the field of play and who single-handedly turned around the drawn match, looks certain to top the season’s scoring charts for the fourth time, and the first time since 2006.

If so, it will also be the first time since Canning’s senior career began in 2008 he hasn’t ended ahead of Shefflin. Nine points separate them after the drawn final and unless the Kilkenny colossus gets injured, he is likely to end up at the top of the list as he did in his rookie year of 1999 (jointly with Corks Joe Deane), 2004 and ’06.

Throughout Shefflin’s career the championship’s top scorer has ended up on the All-Ireland winning side on just three occasions – when he himself did so in 2006 and two years ago, when Tipperarys Eoin Kelly finished in first place.

More ominously for Kilkenny, during that time the top scorer has played for the All-Ireland runners-up eight times, allowing for the fact that Deane who tied with Shefflin in 1999 won an All-Ireland with Cork.