KEITH DUGGANon the understandably high levels of satisfaction in the famed Kilkenny camp as both manager and players celebrate another magnificent success

HENRY SHEFFLIN heaves his gear back into the storage space of the Kilkenny team coach and turns to face the usual.

People looking for stuff.

His thoughts.

His feelings.

Autographs. Photographs.

Henry beams at all comers.

He remembers last year when he left Croke Park in pain, his knee broken down and his hurling future uncertain. Kilkenny too left the ground a pale force last September. So this comeback: it is sweet?

“This time last year, did I think I would be back here? Probably not,” Shefflin says happily. This marks his eighth All-Ireland medal, an achievement that leaves him in the company of the late Christy Ring and the late Tipperary giant, John Doyle. But it is not a distinction Shefflin has had time to dwell upon.

“Being honest, today not really. I suppose in a few days, when I sit down in a few days and think about it, then it will be. It was serious.

“I was down in the dumps and that but I am just delighted to be back and feeling healthy and going back to play with my club. Nobody wants to go through six months of rehab as a few inter-county players are doing at the moment. But when the final whistle goes, that is what it is all about. That is when the work is worth it. It is 360 degrees. And I suppose last year I had the prospect of surgery.

“But for the lads it is brilliant that we got back first of all and the question of whether we had the hunger . . . we have great individuals in there and that is why we are back. And Tipp will be back as well. You can’t beat hunger. I said I would take it one day at a time and that is how I approached it.

“It is a great honour for me and I have had great great times but once the final whistle goes, that is what I will always remember. This is a sweet one but I said that about the seventh, and sixth as well. The most recent one is always in your mind.”

Nearby, Eddie Brennan echoed those thoughts. The Graigue-Ballycallan man was recalled to the team for this final and made the most of his experience and craft. He laughed when someone called him “The Comeback Kid”.

“I’m not a kid anymore. We are a team and a panel. You are probably sick of us saying that over the years but that is what is about. Henry epitomises it. There are no airs and graces about it. And if you think you have it cracked, you are at nothing. Hard work is what it is all about.”

Last year, Kilkenny’s failure to land a five-in-a-row seemed like a definitive end to hurling’s most elusive quest.

Tipperary suddenly looked younger and fresher and set to dominate. After this year’s league final, when Kilkenny were handsomely beaten by Dublin, there were further questions about the Noresiders.

“As we sit here now we have lost one championship match in Croke Park in six years,” Brian Cody pointed out.

“So to write us off for losing the league final is . . . insulting. I have been informing people of the quality of Dublin for a long, long time. At that time, their preparation was ahead of ours and we had to be honest with ourselves about that.

“We weren’t as advanced in our preparation and our preparation went on from there. And the reaction was crazy. I haven’t ready ’papers much since. The league final – we wanted to win it but we were honest with ourselves and knew where we were.

“So this is just massively satisfying and it is just a terrific feeling,” he continued.

“It is phenomenally satisfying because if you like, for the past five years we have been coming in to All-Ireland finals expected to win. It was the reverse this year. Tipperary were the champions and deservedly so. And we were questioned as to whether the thing was over or whatever. We were in a different place completely in the expectation levels of everyone and we faced an enormous challenge.”

He summed all up like this: “Winning an All-Ireland final. . . that is the supreme feeling in sport for us.”