The pain of being edged out by Cork in the recent All-Ireland semi-final has still not gone away for Shanahan and his Waterford colleagues, but the towering wing-forward said that being recognised by his peers was a timely pick-me-up. "To win any award is nice, but having it voted by fellow players make this a bit special. They are the ones you go toe-to-toe with every Sunday and have your battles with on the field. To be acknowledged by them is the ultimate recognition because they know better than anyone else the amount of training and preparation that goes into every 70 minutes," he stated. As for his thoughts on who will come out on top in the All-Ireland SHC showdown between Cork and Kilkenny, Shanahan expects the Rebels to be celebrating a famous three-in-a-row on September 3. "I just think that Cork have this attitude that nothing will stand in their way and they seem to have the beating of Kilkenny in recent years. The fact that Henry Shefflin hit 1-13 against Clare is very high for one player, and Kilkenny can t afford to be as reliant on him the next day as Cork are sure to have a plan," he remarked. Tweet

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