Manager of the Year Cody pays tribute to grassroots

As with the first Philips Sports Manager of the Year award in 1982, a Kilkenny hurling manager was yesterday the recipient of the 2003 version as Brian Cody was recognised for leading his county to back-to-back All-Ireland victories last September.

Pat Henderson was the winner at the inaugural presentation after he, too, steered Kilkenny to All-Ireland glory, again like this year, beating Cork in the final.

Although clearly pleased with the award in Dublin's Berkeley Court Hotel, Cody played down the importance of his role.

"It was a great year really. These things are part and parcel of the whole thing. But essentially it was all about the year, and the success we had with the players. We're just lucky to have achieved all this."

He paid special tribute to the grassroots volunteers - in fact, he dedicated the award to them, insisting he would not have been in this position without their endeavours.

Inevitably, the question was posed whether Cody could bring this team to a three-in-a-row.

"That's the ambition. We've had a good run but when you get a good run, it eventually has to come to an end. Some other team will take over and get their turn at it. Although, we'll try and postpone the end of it."

It's the fourth time a hurling manager has won the prize, Cody joining Ger Loughnane and Liam Griffin, who won in 1995 and 1996 after bringing the Liam McCarthy Cup to Clare and Wexford respectively.

Tyrone people may feel aggrieved that Mickey Harte was not recognised despite winning the football All-Ireland title for the first time in the county's history. Harte wasn't in Dublin yesterday to pick up his award for August; he was en route to New York with Peter Canavan to parade Sam Maguire to the Tyrone contingent Stateside.

In what can be viewed as a reflection of a disappointing year for Irish sport on the world stage, the monthly award winners were mainly from the domestic front, with hurling, football and soccer managers dominating.

Jimmy Mangan (April), trainer of Grand National winner Monty's Pass, and Irish rugby coach Eddie O'Sullivan (February) were the only winners from the international stage. The only other rugby manager was Irish scrum coach Tony D'Arcy, who coached Ballymena to All-Ireland League honours.

In soccer, the work of Bohemians manager Stephen Kenny (December), Longford Town boss Alan Matthews (October) and Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon (November) was acknowledged. GAA managers got six of the 12 monthly awards. They were Jim Greene (Mount Sion), Billy Morgan (Nemo Rangers), Donal O'Grady (Cork), Mick O'Dwyer (Laois), Harte and Cody.

Mickey Harte's magical touch was the key element in Tyrone's spectacular breakthrough to win a first All-Ireland senior football title in September.

That is the opinion of county secretary Dominic McCaughey in his report to next week's county convention. McCaughey said: "Mickey showed that with an appropriate high quality, intelligent training schedule, a talented team could be maintained in a fresh state throughout a lengthy playing season."