Twitter tributes, and jokes, flood in for Henry Shefflin after he confirms retirement from hurling

With the long-expected news confirmed at lunchtime today, the great and the good have been overflowing in praise for the retirement of the King

With a career so speckled with numbers, words can often fail to do justice to what Henry Shefflin has achieved. But with the news today that he has finally hung up his hurl after a truly stellar career, folks turned to Twitter to pay their own tribute to the Kilkenny legend.

Congratulations @ShefflinHenry on the greatest hurling career of all time.It's was a pleasure and honour to support you all down the years. — david morris (@davymorris147) March 25, 2015

#KingHenry retires.. He has more medals than most intercounty players have appearances.. #legend #history — shane connolly (@shane_connolly) March 25, 2015

Henry Shefflin retires! @OfficialWexGAA may now sleep easy!Hats off to probably the greatest player of all time. Enjoy retirement #KingHenry — The Stores Wexford (@thestoreswex) March 25, 2015

Of course, there were jokes too

Henry Shefflin has announced his intention to present Top Gear #henryshefflin — Foil, Arms and Hog (@FoilArmsAndHog) March 25, 2015

After today the 25th of March should become a bank holiday in Kilkenny. #KingHenry @Kilkenny_GAA — Chris Prendergast (@Chris_Prender) March 25, 2015

Henry Shefflin leaving press conference with all his medals! Joy to watch him play the game. Will go down as the best pic.twitter.com/kkgHjPaBGu — Mark McHugh (@MarkMcHugh1) March 25, 2015

But most tweets were just deep expressions of thanks for all he gave to us over the years

So Henry has retired!! Probably the best to have ever played the game. Tipp fans can breath a sigh of relief now #KingHenry #legend #retired — Trevor Darcy (@littlepiglet102) March 25, 2015

So it's official. The great man is off into the sunset. There will only be one #KingHenry An honour to have watched his career — David Mohan (@DavidMohan99) March 25, 2015

Very sad day for kilkenny fans. Thanks @ShefflinHenry for all the special memories. The greatest ever. #KingHenry pic.twitter.com/lhhaGL7lpN — Michelle Moran (@michellemoran6) March 25, 2015

Goodbye to the king. An idol to hurlers throughout the country for years. The greatest of all time. #hero #rolemodel #GOAT #kinghenry — Eddie McCloskey (@eddiemcc14) March 25, 2015

No matter where your from Henry Shefflin was an unbelievable hurler and leader for club and county he had a great career #Shefflin — bubbles o dwyer (@johnodwyer14) March 25, 2015

All of this has got us looking back over some of the finest pieces of footage of the king. This Lucozade video with the Kilkenny legend talking about digging deep will have you setting the alarm an hour earlier tomorrow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpMDPFFckPs