Henry Shefflin has ruled himself out of Kilkenny's Championship opener with Offally on June 9th.

The nine times All Ireland winners foot is still in a protective boot as he recovers from a stress fracture picked up upon his return to light training. Shefflin was originally out with a broken foot sustained in December, following which he was in hospital for several days with pneumonia, and the aggravated the injury while returning to light training recently.

Shefflin told the Irish Independent:
“(Playing against Offaly) is not very likely at the moment.

"I was back doing a bit of training for the last couple of weeks since I got the pins out.

"And, over the weekend, it reacted a small bit. I was in to see the surgeon on Tuesday and that's why I'm back in the boot today. I have a bit of a stress fracture in my foot. It's not the original injury."

Shefflin has played in every championship game played during Brian Cody time in charge of Kilkenny, but that streak now looks set to be broken, and the Ballyhale man may not return to action until the Leinster final.

"It's going to be very much 'wait and see' and, once I get back, I have to be careful again and just build it up right. It's a positive that it's not the original injury, which is a serious injury. That's the positive I can take out of it – this is just a by-product of it."