Kilkenny marksman Henry Shefflin has been recovering from an off-season injury since December but his return has now been delayed by a metatarsal injury picked up in training. (File pic: Adrian Melia)
Henry Shefflin’s remarkable run of championship appearances will be broken, after the Kilkenny hurler suffered a stress fracture on his metatarsal.
Shefflin, who has been recovering from an ankle injury since December, has revealed he is likely to miss his first championship game since 1999.
Shefflin missed the Cats’ the Allianz League campaign with an ankle injury but now his hopes of returning for the Leinster Hurling Championship quarter-final with Offaly have been dashed.
Speaking at a promotional event for Lucozade yesterday, the 11-time All-Star said the fracture occurred during training.
“It’s not very likely at the moment. You came on a good day, to be honest, lads, because basically I was back doing a bit of training for the last couple of weeks since I got the pins out,” he said.
“Over the weekend, it reacted a small bit. I was in to see the surgeon yesterday (Tuesday) and that’s why I’m back in the boot today. I have a bit of a stress fracture in my foot. It’s not the original injury.
“With the injury I had, my foot wasn’t on the ground for three or four months so it’s over-training basically. Not over-training – just your foot isn’t used to training and it just reacts.
“I’m back in the boot now for another few weeks so it doesn’t look like it, unless they play me full-forward,” he said.
However, Shefflin has played down the end of his 62-game championship streak, which began on his debut for Kilkenny 14 years ago.
“Ah no, I’m not going to lie and say I wouldn’t love to play in it, of course I would. But I would have said it this time last year, there’s no point in playing unless you’re right. And I’m not right so there’s no point, that’s basically it.
“That’ll be it, it will be over and you move on with the next match. So it doesn’t really matter to me that much,” he said.
