Griffin, who enjoyed a long and successful career with the Kerry senior hurlers until he retired this year, was instrumental in Lixnaw winning the Kerry championship, with some outstanding displays at midfield and centre-back.

He had a fine game last Sunday when Lixnaw beat Tipperary’s Cashel King Cormacs in the quarter-final on a 1-16 to 1-13 scoreline and is a key player in the role of a defensive sweeper and as a provider of quality ball to Lixnaw’s sharpshooter Shane Conway.

His broken hand, though, means he will have to sit out one of the biggest games in Lixnaw’s history and it will severely diminish the side’s chances of causing an upset against the Cork intermediate winners. Lixnaw have been severely hampered with injuries to Maurice Corridan and Conor O’Keeffe (long term), Mike Conway (broken thumb), Jeremy McKenna (hamstring), Liam Mullins and Declan McCarthy and now Griffin’s absence is a bitter pill for the club to swallow, so the news of Griffin’s absence is a bitter pill.

Elsewhere, hurler of the year nominee Padraic Mannion reckons there’s a good chance Limerick’s Cian Lynch will scoop the top award.

Mannion and Galway colleague Joe Canning have been shortlisted for the prize, along with All-Ireland winner Lynch.

No player has ever retained the title, so Mannion’s Galway colleague Joe Canning could make history at this evening’s All-Stars ceremony in Dublin.

Yet, Mannion feels that midfielder Lynch is probably best placed to win it, purely by being an All-Ireland winner.

Waterford’s Austin Gleeson is the only player from an All-Ireland runner-up team to win the award in the last decade, when selected in 2016.

“Look, it is down to the players, whoever they feel is worthy of it,” said Mannion. “Obviously, with Cian Lynch winning the All-Ireland final, he’s probably [best placed]. More often than not, it goes to the player that wins the All-Ireland final, but look, it’s out of my control...

“To be honest, I know it is not what you want to hear, but I haven’t put much thought into it. It is other people’s opinions really.

“Obviously it’s something that you’d be very proud of when you’re finished up with hurling, looking back, but we’ll see what happens.”

Mannion said he wasn’t sure why Galway were unable to retain the All-Ireland this year, though he insisted the favourites tag wasn’t a problem.

“I don’t think that had any impact,” he said. “We had dealt with that in every match right through the year so it was nothing really new.”

Likewise, he shrugged at the theory that playing Clare and Kilkenny twice sapped them of energy and mental strength.

“Who knows? You don’t want to be making excuses, either. I don’t want to be sitting here saying that if we didn’t have the replays we’d have won it.”