Those who thought last September's All-Ireland SHC final replay was Henry Shefflin's Croke Park swansong were wrong after the Kilkenny great inspired Ballyhale Shamrocks to victory over Gort today.

Shefflin will grace GAA headquarters at least one more time on St. Patrick's Day when Ballyhale will do battle with Kilmallock for the coveted Tommy Moore Cup. The Shamrocks' progress to the All-Ireland club SHC final also means that hurling fans will have to wait a little bit longer to find out whether or not Henry will be prolonging his inter-county career.

"We're absolutely delighted to get back to Croke Park," the 10-time Liam MacCarthy Cup winner told TG4.

"We're a very privileged, proud club. When I and all these lads were growing up, we were seeing the Fennellys and the great Shamrocks teams playing in Croke Park. That was my dream to get to go back to Croke Park and it's absolutely brilliant to be still doing it at 36 years of age.

"Once we won the county final, we were very focused and trying to do as well as we could in the club campaign."

Reflecting on today's 2-17 to 1-15 victory in Tullamore, Shefflin added: "I think again we showed our true grit. Gort tested us very much in the first half, but I think we held in there and we were always that couple of scores ahead.

"The extra bit of hurling we had stood to us in the second half."

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