Willie O'Connor says Kilkenny would miss Henry Shefflin more than Brian Cody.

The manager and former Hurler of the Year are both in danger of missing the Cats' championship opener against Offaly and O'Connor reckons the inspirational Shefflin is simply irreplaceable on the field of play:

"Henry has been a real leader for Kilkenny," the 2000 All-Ireland winning captain says in The Irish Examiner.

"Go back to the All-Ireland semi-final last year and the first leg of the final when Kilkenny were in trouble. If any team in Ireland had a Henry Shefflin on their team sheet, it looks a lot better with him on it than without him."

[Previous lay-offs] cut him out of the winter hurling for a couple of years and really freshened him back up. When you have a top-class athlete, he's not going to be top class for nine or ten months of the year, so you might as well have him for the most important parts of the year.

"Brian often admits himself, the day of the match, he's on the sideline watching. He's like all the people in Kilkenny, depending on the men that are out there. It's up to them.

"Some of the players have been around nearly as long as Brian is there. It might be a little incentive for some of the players, an issue to go out and win the match to help Brian with his recuperation." Tweet

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