It doesn’t seem all that long ago since we were talking about Henry Shefflin becoming the championship’s top scorer before Joe Canning edged Shefflin by a point ahead of his inter-county retirement.
It was 2010 when Shefflin broke Eddie Keher’s long-standing championship scoring record (set in 1972), and at that, Keher himself had overtaken Christy Ring. Household names. Shefflin finished out with a championship career haul of 27 goals and 484 points for a tally of 565 in 71 games. For Canning, he retired in 2021 with a tally of 567, taking just 62 games to get there, averaging 9.3 points per game played.
At that stage, there were question marks over whether we would continue to see TJ Reid involved in the championship, let alone the club scene, but the Ballyhale Shamrocks man is the hurling gift that keeps giving and on Saturday evening in UPMC Nowlan Park, his ten frees lifted him to a total of 30-516 in the championship, or 606 points, becoming the first hurler ever to pass the 600 mark.
With only six months between them age-wise, Reid was replaced at the top of the charts less than 24 hours later, Patrick Horgan hitting 1-09 for Cork in their one-point defeat to Clare at the weekend. That brings Horgan’s scoring to a total of 610 points, creating what could be one of the more interesting shootouts of the season.
Should Tipperary beat Waterford in the final round of Munster games this weekend, Cork will need to beat Limerick to continue their summer of hurling, dethroning Limerick in the process with the four-in-a-row seeking champions on the verge of a championship exit.
Kilkenny, and TJ Reid, are already guaranteed at least an All-Ireland senior hurling quarter-final sport so you would expect Reid to continue past that 606 mark as the season progresses.