LESS THAN FOUR WEEKS AGO, Henry Shefflin was told he would miss the All-Ireland hurling final with a tear in his anterior cruciate ligament picked up in the semi-final.

On Sunday, however, he will start at centre-forward hoping to lead his Kilkenny team to an unprecedented fifth All-Ireland championship in a row.

Shefflin will be joined in the Cats’ starting fifteen by John Tennyson, who was also thought unlikely to start the game with a similar injury. Tennyson will start at centre-back, in the spot occupied by Brian Hogan who sustained a shoulder injury in the Cats’ semi-final win over Cork.

Hogan had looked to overcome the injury but sustained a broken finger in training last week and is out of action for the immediate future.

The return of Tennyson, with Hogan relegated to the bench, is the only change to the team that won the semi-final, meaning that there is no place on the field for the likes of Michael Rice, Martin Comerford and Derek Lyng.

Kilkenny (v Tipperary):
PJ Ryan;
J Dalton, N Hickey, J Tyrell;
T Walsh, J Tennyson, JJ Delaney;
J Fitzpatrick, M Fennelly;
TJ Reid, H Shefflin, E Larkin;
E Brennan, R Power, A Fogarty.