WHEN HENRY SHEFFLIN was considering his options after his three-year spell in Galway, there were obvious potholes to fall into.
As we have seen since he left, the job he did amongst the Tribesmen wasn’t as bad as the initial assessments. He was, after all, a Cillian Buckley miracle goal away from a Leinster title won at Kilkenny’s expense.
All the same, a record-shattering legacy like Shefflin’s needs careful husbandry. It was never likely that he would take the first job that came up.
Instead, he did the clever thing: he went back to become the manager of his own.
Let’s check off the CV for 2025: victory in the county semi-final over last year’s champions Thomastown, who’s own development was aided by the time they had under Shefflin when he finished with Ballyhale the first time.
Then the county final win over O’Loughlin Gaels, 1-18 to 0-12, was as comprehensive as these things go.
That contentious 0-25 to 1-18 win over Kilcormac-Killoughey wreaked more havoc than it should, with Adrian Mullen receiving what Shefflin called, “a dirty belt” and having to undergo surgery with a thumb injury expected to keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.
They did enough to get over the doughty Clough-Ballacolla of Laois in the semi-final, 1-18 to 1-15. St Martin’s of Wexford await in the final (Saturday, Croke Park, 6.30pm).
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So here they are, back in a Leinster final. They also top the leaderboard for the O’Neill Cup with 12 wins, while they put four-in-a-row together between 2018 and 2022, the Covid year of 2020 meaning the provincial championships were disbanded.
Leaving aside the family and obvious emotional ties, going back to Ballyhale Shamrocks was not without risks.
In his previous spell, he delivered two county, two Leinster and two All-Ireland titles. That was with a team still able to call on the likes of Michael and Colin Fennelly, while TJ and Richie Reid were younger men.
Shefflin mobbed by autograph hunters in Corrigan Park, Belfast. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
If you enjoy fretting, you could find a few threads to pull at.
It would take a lot to get back to those levels. Nothing was guaranteed. Fail at club management and would you find yourself put into the Roy Keane bracket?
Yeah sure, it sounds crazy. But so much of the management game is based on perception.
But it also ignores three elements that Shefflin would have been keenly aware of:
1. That he never slipped away from the club and as such, knew exactly what he was getting. The Ballyhale squad, as we shall explore, is on the light side. So there was no ‘difficult’ conversations with decorated players about going with the youth. It would be all hands on deck.
2. There’s not a single player that would, with the knowledge Henry Shefflin was coming back, either (A) retire, or (B) dare let him down.
3. One more Tom Walsh Cup would take them top of the Kilkenny championship leaderboard on 21 titles. Sure, Tullaroan (on 20) haven’t won one since 1994 and before that, 1958. But it’s the little things that count.
“I suppose the opportunity arose and he probably saw it as getting back on the horse, really,” says his clubmate and holder of nine county titles, Liam Fennelly.
“For him, for everyone it was a good fit. It’s a small community and you know what we think of hurling down here. It was an opportunity really to win the 21st title. That was a big, big aim of everyone around here, especially the older people of the parish.
“To hit that was a major achievement and Henry got the best out of everybody to do that.
“The history is done now, but he definitely got the fellas to do that. He got them playing. I felt that at the start, four or five of the county players were playing a game, the Kilkenny game, that we weren’t suited to the Shamrocks.
“Henry, come county final time, was certainly the boss and all the players were doing what he wanted them to do.”
Liam Fennelly when he captained Kilkenny to the 1991 All-Ireland. Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
Such titillation demands further exploration. So what were the county players doing and how did Shefflin change it?
“Our panel would be weak,” Fennelly straight-talks.
“He had to get the county players to play to the top level, in order that the rest of the players would play at a high level as well.
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“We depend a lot on the county players. He had them as the spine of the team and they played in that area of the field.
Where, with Kilkenny, I would have thought the players were encouraged to ramble away from their position, for the Shamrocks Henry got them playing back the way he wanted them to play; more or less play around the area you are picked in and let everyone else take care of their own area.
“That stood out in the county final and one or two games in the Leinster championship. Because the players are manning their positions, the team is spread out to suit themselves.”
During his time at Thomastown and Galway, Shefflin didn’t go into hiding, catching a lot of Ballyhale games. The presence of nephews Eoin and Brian Cody and Evan Shefflin meant he wouldn’t miss what was going on around him.
Even with all that said, he decided to go head-hunting to get a fresh perspective. Reports hold that Shefflin had to ask Tipperary manager Liam Cahill if his goalkeeping coach, the former Kilkenny goalkeeper David Herity, could come and link up with the Ballyhale squad.
“That probably came from Henry’s experience at intercounty level,” says Fennelly.
“He would have seen first-hand that unless you have people with expertise around you, then the job is difficult. To win, you need everything to operate at a certain level.
“There’s no doubt about it, that was a big move out of Henry and it showed that he knows what is required to win and how to be successful.”
Everything that Shefflin looked at in his playing career turned to gold. Galway has been his only sporting setback. How he’s reacting with Ballyhale and, in the near future, Kilkenny U20s will determine the trajectory of his coaching career.
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Back in Ballyhale, Henry Shefflin is sharpening himself for more Leinster honours
WHEN HENRY SHEFFLIN was considering his options after his three-year spell in Galway, there were obvious potholes to fall into.
As we have seen since he left, the job he did amongst the Tribesmen wasn’t as bad as the initial assessments. He was, after all, a Cillian Buckley miracle goal away from a Leinster title won at Kilkenny’s expense.
All the same, a record-shattering legacy like Shefflin’s needs careful husbandry. It was never likely that he would take the first job that came up.
Instead, he did the clever thing: he went back to become the manager of his own.
Let’s check off the CV for 2025: victory in the county semi-final over last year’s champions Thomastown, who’s own development was aided by the time they had under Shefflin when he finished with Ballyhale the first time.
Then the county final win over O’Loughlin Gaels, 1-18 to 0-12, was as comprehensive as these things go.
That contentious 0-25 to 1-18 win over Kilcormac-Killoughey wreaked more havoc than it should, with Adrian Mullen receiving what Shefflin called, “a dirty belt” and having to undergo surgery with a thumb injury expected to keep him out of action for the foreseeable future.
They did enough to get over the doughty Clough-Ballacolla of Laois in the semi-final, 1-18 to 1-15. St Martin’s of Wexford await in the final (Saturday, Croke Park, 6.30pm).
So here they are, back in a Leinster final. They also top the leaderboard for the O’Neill Cup with 12 wins, while they put four-in-a-row together between 2018 and 2022, the Covid year of 2020 meaning the provincial championships were disbanded.
Leaving aside the family and obvious emotional ties, going back to Ballyhale Shamrocks was not without risks.
In his previous spell, he delivered two county, two Leinster and two All-Ireland titles. That was with a team still able to call on the likes of Michael and Colin Fennelly, while TJ and Richie Reid were younger men.
If you enjoy fretting, you could find a few threads to pull at.
It would take a lot to get back to those levels. Nothing was guaranteed. Fail at club management and would you find yourself put into the Roy Keane bracket?
Yeah sure, it sounds crazy. But so much of the management game is based on perception.
But it also ignores three elements that Shefflin would have been keenly aware of:
1. That he never slipped away from the club and as such, knew exactly what he was getting. The Ballyhale squad, as we shall explore, is on the light side. So there was no ‘difficult’ conversations with decorated players about going with the youth. It would be all hands on deck.
2. There’s not a single player that would, with the knowledge Henry Shefflin was coming back, either (A) retire, or (B) dare let him down.
3. One more Tom Walsh Cup would take them top of the Kilkenny championship leaderboard on 21 titles. Sure, Tullaroan (on 20) haven’t won one since 1994 and before that, 1958. But it’s the little things that count.
“I suppose the opportunity arose and he probably saw it as getting back on the horse, really,” says his clubmate and holder of nine county titles, Liam Fennelly.
“For him, for everyone it was a good fit. It’s a small community and you know what we think of hurling down here. It was an opportunity really to win the 21st title. That was a big, big aim of everyone around here, especially the older people of the parish.
“To hit that was a major achievement and Henry got the best out of everybody to do that.
“The history is done now, but he definitely got the fellas to do that. He got them playing. I felt that at the start, four or five of the county players were playing a game, the Kilkenny game, that we weren’t suited to the Shamrocks.
“Henry, come county final time, was certainly the boss and all the players were doing what he wanted them to do.”
Such titillation demands further exploration. So what were the county players doing and how did Shefflin change it?
“Our panel would be weak,” Fennelly straight-talks.
“He had to get the county players to play to the top level, in order that the rest of the players would play at a high level as well.
“We depend a lot on the county players. He had them as the spine of the team and they played in that area of the field.
“That stood out in the county final and one or two games in the Leinster championship. Because the players are manning their positions, the team is spread out to suit themselves.”
During his time at Thomastown and Galway, Shefflin didn’t go into hiding, catching a lot of Ballyhale games. The presence of nephews Eoin and Brian Cody and Evan Shefflin meant he wouldn’t miss what was going on around him.
Even with all that said, he decided to go head-hunting to get a fresh perspective. Reports hold that Shefflin had to ask Tipperary manager Liam Cahill if his goalkeeping coach, the former Kilkenny goalkeeper David Herity, could come and link up with the Ballyhale squad.
“That probably came from Henry’s experience at intercounty level,” says Fennelly.
“He would have seen first-hand that unless you have people with expertise around you, then the job is difficult. To win, you need everything to operate at a certain level.
“There’s no doubt about it, that was a big move out of Henry and it showed that he knows what is required to win and how to be successful.”
Everything that Shefflin looked at in his playing career turned to gold. Galway has been his only sporting setback. How he’s reacting with Ballyhale and, in the near future, Kilkenny U20s will determine the trajectory of his coaching career.
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Ballyhale Croke Park GAA Hurling Leinster Final long road back to croker