Kilkenny manager Brian Cody is confident that Henry Shefflin will continue in the black and amber shirt next year.
The Ballyhale Shamrocks forward – the top scorer in the history of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship as of this year’s Leinster semi-final win over Dublin – lasted just 13 minutes of Sunday’s Liam McCarthy Cup final defeat to Tipperary.
Shefflin, 31, was forced off early after the management took a risk on starting him just four weeks after he sustained a cruciate ligament injury in his left knee in the semi-final win over Cork.
The seven-time All-Ireland winner now faces surgery and is not expected to be fully fit again until well into next summer, leaving some sources to question whether he will be back for the inter-county side in the wake of their drive for a five-in-a-row of All-Ireland Championships falling at the last against the Premier County.
"It's tough, it's brutal, it's terrible for Henry," the Kilkenny manager was quoted as saying in the Irish Daily Mail.
"He's facing obviously a tough couple of months. But there's not a more driven or a more competitive sportsperson alive.
"Nobody has more passion for it and nobody has more drive for it and commitment and enthusiasm to be the best. He's the best and over a long period of time he's been right up there and kept himself up there and looked after himself massively.
"I know deep down in his heart of hearts he'll want to play in Croke Park again with Kilkenny. I would say that for certain. I would say that would be everybody else's desire that he will as well.
"The competitor that he is, he'll be thinking he'd love to play more. I would be certain that Henry will fight tooth and nail to get back. He'll get every opportunity. Everybody will be wanting to see him back in action."
As for the much-questioned decision to play his star man, Cody argued that he was ready for it and added: "Any of the 30 or 34 or 35 players that played yesterday could have suffered a cruciate ligament injury going in perfectly healthy.
"It was never a question of taking a gamble."