HE HAS STARTED every one of Kilkenny’s 62 senior championship matches under Brian Cody since 1999 but Henry Shefflin has confessed that run of unbroken service is set to end next month.
Kilkenny face Offaly on June 9th in Tullamore in their Leinster opener but their attacking talisman is likely to be sidelined.
Shefflin, who has not featured for Kilkenny since last September’s All-Ireland final replay against Galway, got an MRI on Tuesday evening on the foot that he injured last December in a club game for Ballyhale Shamrocks.
And that revealed that he has suffered a stress fracture to his metarasal after returning to training in recent weeks. As a result the 34 year-old has had to return to wearing a protective boot on his left foot.
“It’s not very likely at the moment (playing against Offaly),” admits Shefflin.
“I was back training for the last couple of weeks since I got the pins out. Over the weekend, it reacted a small bit. I was in to see the surgeon yesterday and I got the MRI done. That’s when I was given the boot again to go back in it.
“I have a stress fracture in my foot, the early stages which is good, there’s no crack. With the injury I had, my foot wasn’t on the ground for three or four months so it’s over-training basically. Your foot isn’t used to training and it just reacts.
“There’s no point in taking a risk. I wasn’t in full training, I was building it up slowly. It’s just resting up for a few weeks and I’m due back in to him (the surgeon). I’ll see what the prognosis is then.”
Shefflin explained the original injury he sustained in that game in Wexford Park before Christmas.
“A lot of people thought it was my ankle but it was a Lisfranc which is basically my midfoot. Most people have probably never heard of Lisfranc, it’s an uncommon enough injury.
“But when I went for the x-ray that night in the A and E it was clear and to be honest I just didn’t want to believe I was injured. So I forgot about it for about a week and was going around with a broken mid foot for a week but I knew there was something.
“The following weekend we had our medal presentation and I said it to the (Kilkenny) team doctor Tadhg Crowley and the physio, it didn’t feel right. I got the MRI the next day and that was it.”
Shefflin leaves the field injured after Ballyhale Shamrocks club game last December.
INPHO/Donall Farmer
Frustration
Shefflin admitted that it has not been an easy injury to cope with given the slow nature of the recovery process. Yet he has no regrets about the series of injury setbacks he has suffered in recent years.
“This one has been slow, it’s definitely a frustrating injury. As well as that, it involves walking around so it’s frustrating because you’re feeling it a bit in everyday life. After the last two years, you would have just loved a break, just to go back in with the lads and do training.
“But I can’t have it every way. Obviously Kilkenny get a lot of ups and you’d see me with a lot of success. These are my kind of down moments.
“But I still wouldn’t change a thing. Sport has been very good to me, and hurling has been very good. With modern surgery it’s amazing what they can do. This is what I love doing and what I get kicks from.
“The way last year turned out for me, would it have been as enjoyable if I didn’t have all the stuff that went before it? Probably not.”
Shefflin also had to contend with a bout of pneumonia earlier this year.
“Basically I was back from the injury and I’d just picked up a cold. I was in hospital then for a few days. I’m fine actually, just rested up for a while. I think it was just my body was probably a bit week. Last year was very busy in the off-season and the club was going on as well. It’s felt good since.”
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Henry Shefflin was at the Na Fianna GAA club yesterday at the launch of the new and improved Lucozade Sport Club Crusade. This year, Lucozade Sport is offering adult sport clubs free training equipment and kit in exchange for Lucozade Sport bottle caps. See www.lucozadesport.ie.
