Henry Shefflin is a major doubt for the start of Kilkenny’s championship campaign due to a stress fracture in his foot.
Shefflin injured his foot in the Allianz League final against Tipperary last week and, the Irish Independent reports, test results yesterday displayed the extent of the injury. Shefflin had taken part in a full training session with club Ballyhale Shamrocks during the week and been named at full forward for tonight’s league game with O’Loughlin Gaels before results of the test were known.

Shefflin is now likely to miss the opening championship game, the Leinster quarter-final against Offaly on June 6. The game is the first game Sky Sports will show as part of their coverage of Gaelic games.