Henry Shefflin

Henry Shefflin (born 11 January 1979), the Irish sportsperson, is regarded as the greatest hurler of all-time. He currently plays as a centre-forward for the Kilkenny seniors, having joined the team during the 1999 Senior Hurling Championship and immediately became a regular member of the starting fifteen.

Shefflin holds the distinction of being the only athlete in the history of Gaelic games to have won nine All-Ireland senior winners' medals on the field of play. Shefflin has also won twelve Leinster Senior Hurling Championship winners' medals and five National Hurling League winners' medal. All-Ireland-winning captain in 2007, he has also been on an All-Ireland runner-up team on three occasions.

Shefflin is the holder of a number of personal achievements and records for his hurling exploits. He is the top Championship scorer of all-time (both from placed balls and from play), he is also Kilkenny's most "capped" player of all-time (surpassing D. J. Carey in the Leinster final in July 2012). Other accolades include him being the only player in Gaelic games history to have won more than nine All Star Awards, with eleven. He has started in all Senior Hurling Championship games since joining the panel in 1999, which also means he is the only player to be named in all of Brian Cody's teams since he began managing Kilkenny. He has played in more All Ireland Finals than any other person in Gaelic football or Hurling, to date; 1999, 2000, 2002-2004, 2006-2012 (in 2012 he played in two All Ireland Hurling Finals as the initial game was a draw).

In 2002 Shefflin's hurling prowess earned him the three most prestigious personal awards in the game – the Vodafone, Texaco and Gaelic Players' Association Hurler of the Year Awards. Four years later in 2006 he made a clean sweep of these three awards again for his outstanding contribution to the game. That same year he was also presented with the RTÉ Sports Person of the Year award. In 2009 he was chosen on the Leinster team of the past twenty-five years while he was also chosen at number one on list of 125 greatest hurling stars that same year. In 2012 he became the first person in GAA history to win the Vodafone Hurler of the Year award for a third time.

At club level Shefflin is a two-time All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship-winning medalist with Ballyhale Shamrocks. In addition to this he has won three Leinster Senior Club Hurling Championship medals and four County Senior Club Hurling Championship medals. In a 2012 survey to find the "Most Admired Irish Sports Personality", Shefflin was the only Gaelic games player to feature in the top ten, finishing well ahead of other internationally recognised names.