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Kilkenny's Henry Shefflin Sportsfile/Brendan Moran
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Henry Shefflin: 'Some of the stuff that came out was off the wall'

The Kilkenny star has voiced his opposition to the perception that his team are overly physical in their approach to hurling.

HENRY SHEFFLIN HAS hit out against the perception of Kilkenny as a team that are overly physical in their approach, particularly in their style of defending.

Shefflin also believes certain viewpoints on the subject do not make sense and described suggestions that younger players in the county are coached to play in that way as ‘totally off the wall’.

“There were certain things that came out in the press, that good hurling people all over the country said didn’t make sense.

“This thing that we were told to flick with the wrists. I spoke to an ex inter-county player who was very upset about it.

“I asked why and he said ‘I’m coaching 12 and 14 year old kids down here and it’s tarnishing me with a brush that were teaching kids how to do this which is totally off the wall’.

“It was a very good point. We mark these lads (defenders) in training and there doesn’t be any serious injuries. They’re tough men and they play hard and but that’s an aspect of the game.

“Some of the stuff that came out was off the wall. There was no proof in the pudding. If someone said that about Tommy Walsh, that he was flicking or fouling the whole time, I don’t think that’s a compliment.”

Shefflin remains hopeful that he will prolong his inter-county career for the 2013 season despite the injury travails he has suffered in recent years.

“I’d love to when the season is over to sit down and have no injury concerns. Then I’d reflect. Please God everything will be alright over the next few weeks and then I’ll look forward to the 2013 season.

“Each year I get is now a bonus. The last number of years having the injuries has reinforced that message. It’d be brilliant to walk away on a high. But I’ve based my career on playing the game and it’d be a bit artificial to think differently.”

After recovering from those injury setbacks Shefflin has been probed for advice from other players, including Mayo’s Andy Moran who tore his cruciate ligament in this year’s All-Ireland quarter-final against Down.

Mayo’s Andy Moran turned to Henry Shefflin for advice in dealing with a cruciate ligament injury. Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan

“I’d the same experience in 2010 so he (Andy) asked me and I could only give him my personal opinion. He had to speak to (his surgeon) Ray Moran and he obviously made the decision to go ahead with the operation.

“I had one or two phone-calls and locally I had people get onto me as well. There was a 13-year-old chap in my club who did it. It’s something you can share. People who suffer those injuries probably know themselves what way it is.

The Kilkenny star is confident that their manager Brian Cody will remain at the helm next year and disagreed with the school of thought that at both Shefflin and Cody will one day choose to vacate their respective roles together.

“Was there ever anything said (about walking away together)? No, there wasn’t. Brian is his own man, he always does his own thing. It would be very hard for someone like myself, Noel, JJ or Tommy to go into the dressing room and Brian was not there.

“We have all said it that the reason why we have been so successful is because of Brian and the management team, and the way they have drove us. This year is a case in point; he could easily have stayed with the man-marking job he had done for the semi-final and final, but Brian decided to rip up that.

“He would be a major loss to the game but that is Brian’s decision. Please God that he will be still there.”

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Electric Ireland teamed up with Alan Brogan and Henry Shefflin today to announce they have become the GAA’s Official Energy Partner until 2016. The partnership is an extension of the brand’s successful Cúl Green project. The brand currently sponsors the GAA All-Ireland minor championships.

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