Brian Cody has played down fears over Henry Shefflin’s fitness after the Kilkenny substitute was replaced before extra-time in Saturday night’s gripping All-Ireland qualifier win against Waterford in Thurles.

Shefflin appeared as a sub early in the second half of the game but was then taken back off before Kilkenny triumphed by 1-22 to 2-16 after extra-time.

Shefflin has struggled all year with a foot injury but Cody insisted, “He’s fine. He has nothing behind him, nothing behind him from a hurling point of view. That’s why we took him off.”

Cody praised both teams for their part in another epic qualifier involving Kilkenny this season.

“It was a magnificent game. From where I was, it was non-stop stuff. Would we survive? Would we get through the game and whatever? Waterford came back massively at us in normal time, in the second half. They kept at it, at it and at it and got the equalizer.

“We got a great start to extra-time, but they hit us with a goal and then when we got ahead again, they hit us with another goal. So our response was magnificent -- absolutely magnificent.”