NEWS ROUND-UPBRIAN CODY spoke about Henry Shefflin on Monday morning, September 3rd, 2007. Kilkenny had just retained the All-Ireland hurling title despite the premature loss of their captain: "At half-time it was emotional because Henry couldn't go out," said the Kilkenny manager. "The players took over because they knew how many games Henry had won for us.
"They wanted Henry to go up and get the cup. He stood up and said he wanted no one to win it for him - he wanted them to win it for themselves. He is the guy who has everything that a hurler has ever needed. He has the touch of a ballerina - call it what you like - and he has the physical power that's needed."
Is he the best you have seen, Brian?
"I haven't seen better. There have been terrific players; just go back to DJ (Carey). But there couldn't have been a better hurler than Henry. It's just not possible."
That was the last time we saw Shefflin with a hurley in his hand; halfway through an All-Ireland final and he had 1-2 in the pocket before a cruciate knee injury ended his day.
Before entering the long process of rehabilitation, he had one more duty as captain on the national stage: a momentous, heartfelt speech on the Hogan steps that remembered Vanessa McGarry, James McGarry's wife who died in a car crash last July.
Seven months on and he is approaching the light again. We spoke to him for a few minutes yesterday at a gathering to promote his Puma boots on Leeson Street in Dublin. More laconic than in his acceptance speech last year, he was, in fairness, tramping over well-trodden ground.
"You're not going to ask me about the knee, are you? Ah no, the injury is not too bad, I'm just about there now. The last five or 10 per cent is where I need to get to now. I'm doing a small bit of training with the club (Ballyhale Shamrocks) and hopefully when I go back with the county, I'll be back into it.
"That's obviously the goal but there are club matches on next weekend and more on a couple of weeks after that so hopefully at some stage in them I'd like to participate."
A long road since September?
"It hasn't been too bad up until now but I suppose a day like today, you'd like to be involved. You kind of set your stall out that it's going to be six months and you're not going to play in the league. You know that yourself, so it doesn't matter.
"Now obviously I'm at the stage where I'd like to be back so that's the frustrating part.
"I've had two lads with me with cruciate ligaments, John Tennyson and Richie O'Neill, and it's great to be able to pick up the phone and talk to one of them if things are going bad because they have that experience as well."
Despite the early part of 2008 being dominated by Tipperary and Galway who contested the National League final, Kilkenny are still favourites to win their third All-Ireland in a row.
"There's definitely more teams out there and I suppose teams in the last two or three years have been building for this. A lot of them see this as a big year but it is a big year for every team.
"There's going to be some great competition and I can see there being some great games in this year's championship."
Commenting on the championship structure - a topic that rarely concerns Kilkenny players - Shefflin said: "If you can't go directly, (the qualifiers) is the way to go. We have learned by mistakes in the past when we have gone in the back door and it's a long and hard road to travel.
"So we're just looking forward, we're trying to go straight, and that's the best way to go."
