HENRY SHEFFLIN’S STUNNING achievement in landing a 13th All-Ireland senior hurling medal has been described as ‘incredible’ by his Ballyhale Shamrocks coach.
And Tipperary All-Ireland winner Colm Bonnar firmly believes that Shefflin has the capacity to prolong his career at inter-county level.
Shefflin won his third All-Ireland senior club medal yesterday to add to the ten senior titles he has accumulated with Kilkenny.
He revealed yesterday that he will make a decision in the coming days on his future plans but Bonnar was keen to salute the contribution Shefflin had made to Ballyhale’s latest success.
“Incredible. The man, there’s just no end to him. The hunger he has for the game and the appetite. I suppose last year he didn’t get too many runs with Kilkenny. He had a big appetite.
“If anything Ballyhale got the benefit of that because really if he had been playing all those championship games, he might not have much left in the tank. But when he didn’t go on that trip with Kilkenny, his mindset was to do well with the club. We possibly wouldn’t have been in an All-Ireland club final without him.
“He has great players around him. You try to close Henry down, TJ comes in, Colin comes in, Cha comes in. There’s just so many players to pick up the mantle. Henry has been the leader of that bunch of lads.
“He’s 36 years of age, he’s an incredible athlete, there’s no reason why he can’t continue with the club and inter county. Really the decision is his. It’s about time commitments, he has three young children. It’s about sizing it up what you’ve achieved and what you’ve done and how much more you want to do.
“But anyone sitting back would say 13 All-Ireland senior medals, I know I got two and we were beaten in two. They were incredible feelings. I just couldn’t comprehend how you could win that many and keep going. We burnt ourselves out from celebrations and from having the craic and the whole lot and from not giving the commitment year in year out.”
Bonnar also heaped praise on the feat of Ballyhale’s other long-serving stars.
“The likes of Bob Aylward who’s 37, likes of Paul Shefflin, Aidan Cummins 36, Keith (Nolan) 34, Tom Coogan – his mother only died there last week – it’s a testament to these lads that they’re able to come back and play at the level they’re able to play.
“A lot of people might have thought Kilmallock were a younger team and might move run us but they stood up to everything they had. How long they can keep going, I don’t know and when they do go, it will create a hole in Ballyhale.
“But at the moment things are looking healthy for us. These Kilkenny lads are just a law unto themselves. They love hurling and they keep it simple.”
