Brian Cody relishes Kilkenny’s return to All-Ireland hurling final

Even a man who prefers to wear his heart where it is and simply roll up his sleeves can’t be entirely unsentimental about this one. For the 13th season of his 16 in charge of Kilkenny, Brian Cody is finishing it up in an All-Ireland hurling final, only this time after a journey like no other.

Rewind

Cody may act like it’s the same, saying that every All-Ireland finalist has “earned the right to be there”, no matter what the year, and the only Tipperary game or rivalry he thinks about “is the next one”. Yet rewind 12 months and could he honestly have imagined being back here?

“I don’t ever doubt our ability to be very competitive,” Cody says, straight up, addressing the question of whether or not he ever doubted Kilkenny’s return. Their two-point win over Limerick last month – their tightest margin of semi-final victory under Cody – answered the question of whether or not Kilkenny still had the hunger, and yet nothing questioned their future more than last summer’s All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Cork in Thurles. “I’d just say we didn’t really perform to a terrific level at any stage last year,” says Cody.

“Our hurling didn’t ever really flow. We dug out some great results. The spirit was as good as ever. The attitude was excellent, again. But we just weren’t flowing, from a hurling point of view.

Strengthening

“As the weeks go by and the months go by you’ll be looking at things and seeing where we are with the team and the panel. You always like to strengthen things. There are always a few players on your radar you might say ‘that fella’s going well’ and you bring that in, and see where you go.

“But there’s always work. Even when you win the All Ireland final, as happened previously, you’d always realise there’s work to be done for the following year.”

Cody, in other words, didn’t necessarily set out into this year any differently than last, although there’s no denying the injection of younger players, and the reinvention of others: what is certain too is that nothing about Clare’s subsequent All-Ireland victory over Cork was going to affect what Kilkenny were going to change.

“Every time somebody new wins the All Ireland final, everybody talks about ‘this is it’, as if hurling has changed forever. I never see it that way. But I never bought into that.

“I’ve seen that happen over the years, where suddenly this is now the way to be hurling. As far as I’m concerned, there is no Gospel. We don’t have the Gospel. And nobody else has the Gospel either. There are players that play the game and you try and get players to play to their strengths. . .

“So regardless of the great tactics you might face, the game takes on a life of its own. I don’t think the fundamentals ever change. And the great things definitely haven’t changed.”

Still, there has been a gradual shift in some of the key positions over the season: Padraig Walsh now preferred to older brother Tommy in defence; Richie Hogan revitalised around midfield; and Henry Shefflin effectively resigned now to being an impact sub. For Cody, that’s all part of the process.

“Obviously you trust all the players implicitly. And the players have to react to whatever situation develops on the field of play. The biggest plan, for anybody, is to ensure that the team works very, very hard and do the basics well. And you want to give your team the opportunity to go and play with a bit of fluency and a bit of freedom.

“But of course you look at every aspect of the game. That’s part and parcel of it. That’s fundamental to everything you’ll do from a managerial point of view.”

Helpless

On that note he admits too that there at times on the sideline when the manager is effectively helpless and everything comes down to the players.

Nowhere was that more evident than in the closing moments of their semi-final against Limerick: if the Kilkenny players couldn’t summon their own will to win in that Biblical downpour then nothing Cody said or shouted could help.

“And at that stage you don’t have any huge influence on a match. You can make a switch. It might work and it might not. Other than that the game goes by very quickly, and you just trust the players on the field, trust those that come in.

“It all pans out on the field. You’re just there, and do you have a huge responsibility to ensure that the attitude is good. But your job is pretty much done before you get out on the field I think.

“And that’s the position I’ve assumed. If it scares you, you’re in the wrong place. Because you don’t have a huge influence while it’s happening. . . But at the same time you have to have a presence there, that does contribute in whatever way it can.”