Brian Cody says that hurling doesn’t need to be cleaned up

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has re-stated his misgivings about the enforcement of discipline in hurling and what he believes to be "pressure to kind of clean up a game that doesn't need to be cleaned up".

Speaking at yesterday's launch in Nowlan Park of the 16th year of Glanbia's sponsorship of the county teams, Cody also said that the decision to challenge successfully the red card shown to Henry Shefflin in last year's All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork made "absolute sense".

He also endorsed a recent proposal by Kilkenny hurling icon Eddie Keher, who advocated the abolition of yellow and red cards in hurling which he described as "totally at variance with the ethos, physicality and manliness of the game of hurling".

The Glen Rovers club in Cork also intends to bring a motion to next year’s annual congress to achieve the same end.

Cody remains constant in the view that attempts to crack down on indiscipline within hurling run the risk of taking the physicality out of the game.

“I suppose it’s well known what I feel about all that aspect of things. I think that there is absolutely an over emphasis on cards, without a shadow of a doubt. I don’t want to start getting into a whole rigmarole again about talking about how matches are refereed or whatever it is but it can’t become a non contact sport and there’s an absolute emphasis on heading that direction.

“I wouldn’t see much improvement in the will for it anyway. The certain will that is there appears to be that kind of a pressure to kind of clean up a game that doesn’t need to be cleaned up, for whatever reason. I don’t understand it. I never did understand it. Maybe I’m missing the point.”

Cynical fouling
Asked about the introduction of the black card in football in an attempt to counter cynical fouling – an innovation that GAA president Liam O'Neill has said he welcome extending to hurling – Cody questioned whether there was a need for another card.

“To be honest, I’ve never even gone down the road of thinking about these black cards. I don’t know much about them. It’s just another card that’s being introduced. I’m not going to pontificate about football or anything like that or how it’s going, I have no idea, but do we need another card?

“Absolutely not. Eddie Keher brought out a very good suggestion lately about cards. I just came across it and it made an awful lot of sense, an awful lot of sense.”

He explained that it was important to challenge Shefflin’s red card, which he said was a wrong decision, as failure to rescind the sending off could have repercussions in the future.

“From a practical point of view, there are ramifications and implications if that happens you a second time in 12 months there’s an automatic lengthening of a suspension so we would have been very, very silly not to go ahead and challenge it and maybe if the same thing were to happen this year, you’d be facing a lengthier suspension so practically it made absolutely sense.”

Facing into his 16th season as manager Cody reflected on last year, which saw Kilkenny’s championship season end earlier than at any previous season during his tenure. Although there had been memorable occasions, such as the All-Ireland qualifier defeat of Tipperary in front of a packed Nowlan Park, he said there it had been no consolation.

“No, not at all. It wasn’t. We were part of two very good games, great occasions and those two events went the way we wanted them to go but it doesn’t in any way make up for not going where we wanted to go at all.”

Currently unavailable
He said that although some players are currently unavailable, none were "long term or anything like that.

“Just off the top of my head, Michael Fennelly, Richie Power, JJ Delaney, that’s three anyway. Richie Hogan’s gone back and done a bit of training.”

Kieran Joyce is expected back shortly after concentrating on the intermediate club All-Ireland, in which he and Rower-Inistioge were successful on Saturday.

On Sunday, Kilkenny head for Ennis to take on the team that succeeded them as All-Ireland winners. Asked did he feel that there would be pressure on such a young team bearing the burden of champions, Cody disagreed.

“I would say there is more pressure not being All-Ireland champions than being champions. I think it is an indication of your quality and where you stand with regard to all other teams and they won it in a way that suggested that they are more than capable of playing without pressure.

“I don’t know really from their point of view. They’ve a lot of very young players. They’d naturally be very fit and I don’t think it’s going to have too much of an impact on them at all to be honest. They’re young, fit and very good hurlers. That helps.”