Henry Shefflin's messianic status in Kilkenny hurling is mirrored in the way his coming had been foretold. Being a free-scoring forward at under-age level hasn't been a guarantee of senior progress in Kilkenny this decade. So why was Shefflin different, and how did the county's hurling community so emphatically believe that he was?

His underage credentials were outstanding, and he featured on two of Kilkenny's minor teams which, in these times of monopoly at the grade, meant two Leinster medals. Last year he landed in the under-21s and chalked up 3-4 on a beaten side in the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway.

In last month's All-Ireland under-21 semi-final against Antrim, he was left on for as long as it took for him to put away the result. Then he could be whisked off and wrapped in cotton wool in the lead-up to this weekend's senior final.

His high profile has been driven by the formidable displays of the Kilkenny forwards. Together with back-in-favour veteran John Power, Shefflin has been identified as one of the material differences between the team this year and last. His arrival is also said to have helped to liberate DJ Carey by removing the free-taking burden from his shoulders.

As Kilkenny manager Brian Cody explains: "You can't depend on any one or two forwards. Maybe one time you could, but those days are gone because players are so fit and players can be closed down so easily."

Having observed him since the player's earliest days, Cody never had any worries about Shefflin's ability to make the grade at senior level.

"I never doubted it. Once I came into the job, Henry was on the panel, and the way he trained and the shape he was in. And I saw him play with the Waterford Institute in Fitzgibbon matches and he was showing leadership of that team. He was showing all the right signs and saying the right things."

Leadership is something that has always appeared to come easily to Shefflin in his career. His scoring exploits with the under-21s have been echoed with every team on which he has played, from under-12 to the Ireland under-21 hurling-shinty team.

Cody was in Templemore Garda College last February when Waterford Institute of Technology romped to the Fitzgibbon, but even the previous year Shefflin's score-taking had been prodigious in a WIT side which hadn't the dominant hold on the tournament they were to establish 12 months later.

For the manager, caution is still required when assessing a 20-year old in his first championship season whose input into matches has yet to be fully tested. In Kilkenny's only tight championship outing, against Clare, Shefflin experienced a bad dose of the yips when addressing frees which should have been only a formality. Yet most priceless in any inventory of his playing assets is his maturity.

"He was the kind of fella who was motivated," says Cody. "His skill level I'd known and had been involved with through teaching and the school team - it was that long ago. At that stage you could see the skill was there, the hurling was there. He's grown into a fine big fella so there was never a doubt really. He still has to go out and produce it everyday and do the hard work everyday.

Henry Shefflin

Club: Ballyhale Shamrocks

Age: 20

Height/weight: 6 2["]/13st 5lb

Occupation: Student

Honours: 1 Leinster SHC (1999); 2 Leinster U21 (1998, '99); 2 Leinster MHC (1996, '97); 1 Leinster IHC (1998); Fitzgibbon Cup with WIT (1999).