HENRY SHEFFLIN’S Galway reign started with a bang but ended with a whimper. He ascended the throne on a cold January Sunday. The subjects gathered in force for King Henry’s inauguration as Galway boss as they saw Offaly off 2-19 to 0-19 in Ballinasloe.
It was only the Walsh Cup but it felt like a new era out west. Joe Canning had retired from inter-county hurling and was not for turning, so the Kilkenny legend began to plot how to deliver glory without the Portumna genius. But doing it against his own was always the background noise — even his first game pitted him against Offaly’s boss Michael Fennelly.
The pair had soldiered together for over a decade, and Fennelly was the lynchpin of the Ballyhale Shamrocks side that claimed back-to-back club All-Irelands in 2020, with Shefflin as boss. Kilkenny chief Brian Cody tried to coax the ten-time All-Ireland winner into his backroom team as a coach following those club glories to no avail. Shefflin wanted to plough his own furrow and made the shock move to Galway in October 2021, feeling the time was right to step into county management.
The 2022 NHL spared him a showdown with his former boss, but all eyes were on their Leinster SHC clash on May 1. Pearse Stadium heaved as the Tribesmen edged a thriller with Conor Cooney’s last-gasp free winning the game, 1-24 to 3-17. The handshake that followed dominated the dialogue as a furious Cody glared at his all-time great in anger.
The student had schooled the master. Shefflin .