CHAMPIONSHIP 2010 HURLING: Ian O'Riordanwas among the 7,500 in Nowlan Park last night to witness a miracle
WE CAME for one of those routine pre-All-Ireland training sessions, and left after witnessing a miracle. Henry Shefflin, risen from his crippling cruciate injury, now ready and perfectly able to take his place in the All-Ireland final. Unbelievable, indeed, except that Kilkenny hurlers are no strangers to miracles.
Like all proper miracles it had to be performed in public, or in this case in front of around 7,500 astonished fans who casually walked in to the open training session in Nowlan Park and were suddenly rubbing their eyes. Is that actually Henry? Running out onto the field? The player who just 16 days previously was unquestionably ruled out of the All-Ireland final? Well some people had other ideas, questioned that.
King Henry is back! Defying logic. Miraculously so. Call it what you want. And who’s that in tow? John Tennyson? It is Tennyson. Wasn’t he ruled out too? Not now he’s not. Down here, apparently, they like to do miracles on the double. Both players look fully fit, fully able and more than keen to take their places in the All-Ireland final in 10 days’ time. Suddenly that record fifth successive All-Ireland is looking even more likely.
6.47pm:The miracle unfolds. Shefflin emerges from under the old stand. No fuss. No announcement. Just instant recognition, and spontaneous gasps of astonishment. Straightaway, not the slightest indication of the injury. He runs down to the town end and launches into the warm-up routine. Exactly the same movements as every other player on the field. He can hardly disguise the smile of satisfaction on his face. Deep, deep satisfaction. He's back. He knows it. Unbelievably, the knee isn't even strapped.
7.00 (sharp):Brian Cody gestures towards the group. Time for the orchestrated warm-up. Shefflin does the frog-march hops. The jumps high in the air. Shaking, rattling, rolling his knee. His left knee! His injured knee!! Twisting, turning, spinning. Some said that if he was to play any role in the All-Ireland he'd surely only run in straight lines. Instead, he's not running at all in straight lines.
7.20:Cody calls his men, divides the group into two. Shefflin takes off his tracksuit top, puts on a blue jersey. The opponents wear green. They fetch their helmets. He lines out at centre forward.
7.25:The game begins. Shefflin is wrestling for ball. On the ground! He's giving it 101 per cent. He's sprinting flat out. These are not the actions of a man supposedly having no chance of playing in the All-Ireland. Just reaching and chasing and calling for balls with that unmistakeable grace.
7.37:Shefflin scores! More gasps of astonishment.
7.48:Half-time.
8.12:Cody ends the game. Shefflin looks as fresh as he started. Zero ill-effects of the injury. He walks off to rapturous applause.
It needed to be seen to be believed; or perhaps in Shefflin’s case, believed to be seen. As we know, Kilkenny hurlers like to believe in the impossible. They wouldn’t be going for a fifth successive title if they didn’t.
But this miracle didn’t happen by accident, and the man that helped stage it is Limerick sports injury specialist Ger Hartmann. When the 31-year-old Shefflin had his worst fears realised, and that the injury from the semi-final win over Cork was a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of his left knee, Hartmann was consulted, more out of hope that expectation.
Such injuries typically require between six to eight months of rehabilitation, following some surgical procedure.
The ACL is only one of four major ligaments in the knee, and Hartmann’s theory is that if the rest of the knee is undamaged, which in Shefflin’s case it was, then it is possible to restore full and complete strength. So they committed to intensive physio, three to four hours rehab, one day on; one day off. By Monday, Shefflin was reportedly ready for action. Right here he proved it.
The one downside on the evening for Kilkenny was that Brian Hogan exited the practice match with a suspected broken finger.
