SHC QUALIFIER/Galway v Kilkenny: Ian O'Riordan talks to Kilkenny manager Brian Cody, who is calm under the mounting pressure

Somewhere between Wexford's late goal and Kilkenny's demise as Leinster hurling champions, Brian Cody fell to his knees and began hammering the ground with his clenched fists. He'd run directly behind the Kilkenny goal to roar some final instructions but instead watched helplessly as Michael Jacob's shot whizzed into the net.

Game over.

It's over three weeks since and, as you suspect, Cody is still in therapy. Yesterday it was some hard work in the garden. In four days he takes his team to Thurles to play Galway, old rivals who took Kilkenny's National League crown this year, and beat them too along the way. This time there is no way back, but if the pressure is mounting Cody isn't showing it.

But it is new territory for the Kilkenny manager. The team went down the back-door route once before in 1997, but never under Cody. Lose this and he'll come away from 2004 with nothing. The RTÉ cameras also plan to head to Thurles and they won't want to miss a puck.

"It's definitely worth watching alright," he says. "Maybe I'll stay at home so and watch it on the box as well."

Cody is in similarly relaxed mood when he looks back on that eventful day in Croke Park. To him it just proved what he'd been preaching all along. He recalls that frustrating dive to the ground as possibly the worst part.

"I think I twisted my ankle," he jokes. "But I could see it happening. We were a point up, and the next puck-out was the end of the game. And if they got the point we were looking at a replay. So of all places that's where I wanted to be. It was a big disappointment. But I know we've gained from those kind of goals before, particularly over Wexford.

"Of course you'll always remember games that you lose like that. But then you just analyse them in the same way as you would a game you win. And assess what went right and what went wrong. But I felt the players started to refocus straight away. We were back at training two nights later, and everyone was very much determined to move on.

"But I feel an awful lot was made of that Wexford game. First of all, we were beaten with a last-minute goal. But I've been saying it for a few years now that Wexford are a very good team, and no one seemed to be listening to me. Two years ago we beat them by just two points and even last year they were still in it until the last 10 minutes or so.

"Now that Wexford have won, all of a sudden everyone is saying that Leinster hurling is totally different. To me that just doesn't add up."

Outside of his garden Cody also found some therapy in the beating of Dublin in the first round of the qualifiers. To some extent the 26-point winning margin proved it was a futile exercise, but a couple of players were tried out in different roles - most prominently Tommy Walsh at corner back.

"Sure Tommy can play anywhere," says Cody, "and already has done in his few years on the senior panel. We did move some players about, but it wasn't for any single reason. That's the way it would be after any match.

"And we approached that like we would any other championship match. Particularly because it was knock-out. I know Dublin were hit by various withdrawals and that was unfortunate on them. But we won it and that was all that counted. And the fact is Galway had a similar experience against Down, so it's been the same run-in for both teams."

From an outside perspective, the prospect of Kilkenny walking away from the season with nothing equals huge pressure. Cody stares at pressure straight between the eyes.

"Sure there's pressure there or there's no pressure there, whatever way you want to take it. I don't think about the pressure. I'm just looking forward to playing Galway now. To me there's no reason why the pressure should be any different.

"It's massive game for us, and the same for Cork and Tipperary. There is no way back for the losers this time, and that's a serious prospect for us. It's as sheer a knock-out scenario as you can get. It's absolutely all or nothing. But the winners are through to an All-Ireland quarter-final. That would be a terrific place to be."

Kilkenny will finalise their team after training this evening, but the injury slate is wiped clean. DJ Carey is expected to start again at full forward.

Have the record button on pause.