John Henderson (born 14 October 1957) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a corner-back and as a full-back for the Kilkenny and Wicklow senior teams.
An Eddie Keher-inspired Rower-Inistioge provided the opposition, however, Henderson won a Kilkenny Senior Hurling Championship medal following a 3–11 to 1–10 victory.
A 2-18 to 3-4 defeat of Dublin secured a fifth successive provincial title for the team and a first Leinster medal on the field of play for Henderson.
The Cats proved much too strong and powered to a 3-19 to 1-14 victory, giving Henderson an All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship medal.
Having been beaten the previous year, Kilkenny secured a narrow 2-9 to 1-9 victory giving Henderson an All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship medal.
[citation needed] Henderson made his senior championship debut on 24 June 1979 in a 4-15 to 4-11 Leinster semi-final defeat of Dublin.
Bad weather and an unofficial train drivers’ strike resulted in the lowest attendance at a final in over twenty years.
The bad weather also affected the hurling with Kilkenny scoring two freak goals as Galway ‘keeper Séamus Shinnors had a nightmare of a game.
A Liam “Chunky” O’Brien 70-yard free went all the way to the net in the first half, while with just three minutes remaining a 45-yard shot from Mick Brennan was helped by the wind and dipped under the crossbar.
[4] After a fallow two-year period, Kilkenny bounced back in 1982 with Henderson winning his first National Hurling League medal following a 2-14 to 1-11 defeat of Wexford.
The Cats were rank outsiders on the day, however, a brilliant save by Noel Skehan was followed by two quick goals by Christy Heffernan just before the interval.
Éamonn O'Donoghue pegged a goal back for Cork, however, Ger Fennelly added a third for Kilkenny who secured a 3-18 to 1-13 victory.
Billy Fitzpatrick was the star with ten points, giving Kilkenny a 2-14 to 1-9 lead with seventeen minutes left, however, they failed to score for the remainder of the game.
The opening thirty-five minutes saw both sides trade score-for-score, however, a controversial 20-metre free, miss-hit by Michael Cleary, landed in the net and gave Tipperary a lead which they never surrendered.