Wait for a Shefflin miracle

ALL-IRELAND SH CHAMPIONSHIP:THEY HAVEN'T been promised a miracle but Kilkenny have been told there might still be some chance of Henry Shefflin playing in the All-Ireland hurling final.

Depending on how he responds to intensive and fairly ambitious treatment on his injured knee over the next three weeks, the hope is Shefflin could possibly play a substitute’s role in Croke Park on September 5th – and the incentive to get him on the field for some game time is obviously huge.

The 31-year-old Shefflin had his worst fears realised on Tuesday, when scans on the knee injury sustained in last Sunday’s semi-final win over Cork revealed that he had torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) of his left knee, a blow that was surely worsened by the fact that he had torn the ACL of his right knee just three years previous.

Such injuries typically require between six to eight months of rehabilitation, following some surgical procedure, and that appeared to inevitably rule Shefflin out of Kilkenny’s final drive for the record five successive All-Ireland hurling titles.

However, given what was at stake – and Shefflin’s incalculable role in getting Kilkenny this far – it was only natural that they sought a second opinion.

Miracles aside, was there any way Shefflin could even march out with the team? Was there any point in even trying? That was when Ger Hartmann’s sports injury clinic in Limerick was suggested, and Shefflin has reportedly attended the clinic twice in recent days, with a view to starting more thorough treatment next week.

Given he’s currently walking with the aid of two crutches, the chances of Shefflin being fit to play any sort of hurling are slim, a long shot, at best – but the Kilkenny management are prepared to chance it nonetheless.

Shefflin will still require some surgical procedure, but that’s been put off until after the All-Ireland final, and all the attention now is on stabilising and loosening out the knee to the extent that playing some role may still be possible.

The ACL is only one of four major ligaments in the knee, and the hope is that if the rest of Shefflin’s knee is undamaged, which it looks to be, then it may still be possible for him to participate at some stage, although surely not from the start.

Yet Hartmann’s sports injury clinic, which is based at the University of Limerick, is widely renowned for treating athletes from various sports, and once it was decided Shefflin would forego surgery, for now, contact was made.

Clearly, it will be much closer to the final, possibly even the day itself, before the ultimate decision on Shefflin’s potential participation is made, although in the meantime his progress will be eagerly monitored by both Kilkenny, and indeed the team they end up facing – either Waterford or Tipperary.

Hartmann has a famous reputation for helping and sometimes even saving the careers of athletes, including Britain’s Kelly Holmes, who was told she would never run again due to an Achilles injury, yet returned to win two Olympic gold medals in 2004, and also Paula Radcliffe, who he helped get to the start line of the Beijing Olympics despite her missing several months of training beforehand with a stress fracture in her leg.

He also worked with Ronan O’Gara ahead of the 2005 Lions Tour, when his knee injury, a grade-two tear of the ACL, looked certain to rule him out – yet five weeks later Hartmann had him back, ready to play.

Kilkenny supporters, naturally, will be looking for a repeat result here.

In the meantime the prospects of centre back Brian Hogan making the final continue to improve, as the shoulder injury he also sustained in Sunday’s semi-final is responding well to initial treatment, and he’s now expected to be back to full training within two weeks.