Irish Daily Mirror

HALE,REIGN AND SHINE

Evergreen Henry just keeps turning up for trophies

- BY PAT NOLAN

VICTORIOUS Ballyhale Shamrocks captain Michael Fennelly admits he didn’t expect Henry Shefflin to take to management so quickly.

Shefflin went straight from playing to managing his club this year and delivered their

16th Kilkenny county title on Sunday with a three-point win over Bennettsbr­idge to go with the six he won as a player.

Fennelly,

who won his seventh, joked that Shefflin’s wife was probably relieved to have him o u t from under her feet. Fair play to Deirdre,” he smiled.

“I say she must be happy getting rid of him out of the house because I thought he’d take a couple of years out to be honest because he’s five kids at home but now all the kids are coming down with him.

“Two or three would be down at training so it’s probably good for Deirdre to get the kids out of the house but fair play to him, he has a great appetite for it.

“I have no doubt he enjoys it, he’s passionate about hurling, always has been and in his first year he’s delivered a county medal for us.”

The 33-year-old likened Shefflin’s role to that of a “head coach”.

He explained: “He could observe the whole sessions and look at different behaviours and the players and stuff.

“It’s very, very tough for him to come in after retiring last year as a player.

“A lot of people wouldn’t do that to be honest, a lot of pressure from your own club as well but thankfully he did it and we always had great respect for Henry (right).

“Always a great leader. Again, he led from the sideline. He’s a leader for us and it’s great to have him there. He talks sense. His brother Tommy is excellent. He

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