Brian Cody: Pandemic allowed goal-scoring hero Richie Hogan time to heal

"He got a break, the body got a break," said boss Brian Cody. "I firmly believe (that was significant) and I would have said it to him as well. Because he's a player who doesn't hold back when he's injured, he won't just lie down, even for a serious enough injury.

"He'll keep going, he's a fighter so he hasn't minded the body from the point of view of sitting back when he's injured and saying, 'I can't play'. He's not like that. He always wants to play and definitely he's moving freely.

"Richie was very influential, there's no doubt about that when he came in. You're talking about a real experienced player and a player who has given great service for certain. As I said, he's had that uninterrupted kind of a year with injury, he's one of the players in the country who has benefited from the lack of competitive games over the year because he's had that free run to get injury-free and he definitely contributed really, really powerfully when he came on."

Cody had a face like thunder immediately after Kilkenny's none too convincing quarter-final win over Dublin, when they coughed up a 16-point lead and eventually won narrowly.

This time, he was all smiles after collecting the Leinster title for the 16th time as manager, their first since 2016. Was it particularly sweet given the four-year wait?

"Look, it's this year's Leinster final, of course it's sweet," retorted Cody. "For a lot of the players, it's probably their first Leinster title which shows it does matter very, very much.

After all of that we're Leinster champions. That matters.

Cody is glad of the near two-week break now until the All-Ireland semi-finals.

"That's for sure. The alternative is to go and play the quarter-final next weekend and that's very, very tough going obviously. It does give bodies a chance to recover.

"We can recover and get a couple of meaningful sessions in as well."