Former Galway hurling manager appointed Kilkenny manager
FORMER Galway hurling manager Henry Shefflin has been appointed as the Kilkenny manager for the 2027 season.
Shefflin takes over from Derek Lyng as Kilkenny senior hurling manager. The former Kilkenny hurler was in charge of the Galway senior hurlers for three seasons between 2022 and 2024.
The Kilkenny native led Galway to two All-Ireland semi-finals in 2022 and 2023 where they were narrowly defeated by Limerick on both occasions. In his final year in charge of the Tribesmen, they failed to progress to the knockout stages of the Leinster SHC. Kilkenny native Richie O’Neill was also part of Shefflin’s backroom team with Galway.
This season, he took charge of the Kilkenny U20 hurling team who reached the Leinster final. Galway defeated Kilkenny in the Leinster U20 hurling final. Shefflin has also previously been in charge of his club Ballyhale Shamrocks during a succesful period. During his inter-county career for Kilkenny from 1999 until 2015, he went on to win thirteen Leinster titles, ten Leinster Championships, six National Leagues and eleven all-stars. He will go down as one of Kilkenny’s most decorated players.
Lyng was manager of the Kilkenny senior hurling team since 2023 he led them to an All-Ireland final in 2023 which was followed by back to back All-Ireland semi final defeats in 2024 and 2025. This year proved to be a difficult year for the Cats where they failed to advance from the Leinster SHC round-robin series. Although, during his term they won three Leinster SHC titles in-a-row.