Cody ponders next move

GAA: Seán Moran talks to Kilkenny's Brian Cody, who says he will celebrate winning the All-Ireland for now before deciding on his future with the county.

Kilkenny hurling followers will keep their fingers crossed that manager Brian Cody decides to stay on with the team when he reviews his position in the weeks ahead. Cody now has two All-Ireland titles to show for his four years in charge as well as four Leinster championships.

The ultimate test for a team in modern times is the successful defence of an All-Ireland. Neither a football nor a hurling title has been retained in the past nine years - an unprecedented length of time in GAA history. Cody, however, is reluctant to focus on the year ahead, not least because his own plans are uncertain.

"Next year doesn't come into it right now. Kilkenny hurling has the potential to go ahead and build on this win but I'm not going to talk about next year because I have no idea what I'm doing next year. That's the truth and it's not making a big thing about it or anything like that. I just have to sit down and think about next year because I have no idea at the moment.

"I won't start talking about defending anything. Next year's championship is up for grabs like any other and if Kilkenny want to be in the hunt they'll have to stay very, very competitive. They know that themselves. Right now it's time for a bit of celebration."

His four years in charge have been exhaustive with three All-Ireland finals and one semi-final reached over the course of his tenure. Central to his success has been the ability to restructure the side without breaking stride or dropping out of the All-Ireland picture.

For instance, the team that won the weekend's final against Clare showed seven changes from the team that lost the All-Ireland of only three years ago to Cork.

Former Dublin football manager Tom Carr once made the point that intercounty management absorbed him not just when he was actively engaged in training or preparing the team but also when going about his daily business as football constantly occupied his thoughts. Cody agrees.

"The four years have obviously been demanding in the sense that for all your waking hours it's part of what's going through your mind all the time. I'm not talking about commitment or pressures, I'm talking about the whole thing going on all around you all the time.

"It's not something you can afford to take your eye off - it doesn't mean you can't relax, of course you can and your life goes ahead but it's a huge chunk of your thinking and your thoughts are on it all the time."

The main business of the past 12 months has been rebuilding the team after last year's All-Ireland defence ended in defeat by Galway in the semi-final.

To that end Kilkenny used the National League to bring in new players and blood them in inter-county competition. The results were so successful that the county won the league with a number of new players.

Many of them survived into the championship and gave good accounts of themselves as the summer progressed and the older, more experienced players blended in with the neophytes.

Nor was this a simple matter for Cody of slotting in players with luminous underage pedigrees. Not all of Sunday's winning team came into that category.

"Those players showed great maturity," says Cody, "and to watch them develop has been gratifying. Players like Derek Lyng who took over at the middle of the field and played a few games at centre forward in the league. He hadn't been a star at under-21 or minor level, he's 23 years of age - had never really played at minor or under-21 level and has mostly been playing junior hurling. This year was his first playing intermediate club hurling.

"It's says a lot for a fella that he can come in there and perform like he's performed all of the year.

"Martin Comerford was outstanding all year and took on Brian Lohan yesterday and played a huge role for us. Then there's players like Pat Tennyson who was on the team during the league and was staking a claim for a place in the middle of the field. He was one of our top three players in the league.

"Richie Mullally was targeted very much by Clare yesterday. Puck-outs and anything was thrown at him like a barrage, non-stop for the whole first half. Like a man he took responsibility - that's wonderful to see.

"The most gratifying thing is to see players you had confidence in, had trust in, reward that kind of trust with maturity and manliness."

Other players have had to overcome adversity to get to the stage whereas some have been developing over a longer period. Henry Shefflin, now short odds for the hurler of the year accolade, is an example of a player who has been steadily building on great promise.

"Jimmy Coogan lost a year of his career to a cruciate injury and came back to play in an All-Ireland final. Then you've someone like Henry Shefflin come out and play centre forward and become an absolutely hugely influential leader. To see him developing to the stage he's at now is gratifying."

Two years ago Kilkenny were awesomely superior to Offaly in the All-Ireland final. That win eased the unhappy memories of the previous year. How does Cody compare the two victories?

"Ah the one you're in at the time is always the most gratifying. You can never minimise a win that's gone before. I suppose the one thing that would have been there harping on the mind was that we beat no team from Munster in 2000 whereas this year we beat Tipperary and we beat Clare."

Meanwhile, Kilkenny stalwart John Power has announced his retirement from the intercounty game. Power, whose career spans three decades, came on as a late replacement on Sunday for what was expected to be - and turned out as - his lap of honour.

"I'm hanging up the boots," he said yesterday, "and I was fortunate yesterday (Sunday) to get the few minutes on the field and I very much appreciated that from the players and having thrown in my lot again this year and trained hard and to win the All-Ireland and the minors is an amazing achievement for Kilkenny."

Tomorrow the annual GOAL challenge match will take place at Nowlan Park at 6.p.m. It will be played between Kilkenny and the county champions O'Loughlin Gaels.