Cody’s ire shows he’s human after all
It wasn’t the full transcript. What was printed was all that could be printed.
To say Brian Cody went to town on Barry Kelly would be an understatement. He also threw jabs at GAA president Liam O’Neill and some former Kilkenny players in the media but his strongest blows were reserved for the Westmeath referee.
As much as we would like to think the transcript does justice to those 10 minutes in Cody’s company, you would have had to be there to appreciate how forceful he was when talking about Kelly. Looking beyond the journalists into the ether, he pondered with a wry smile before unleashing. “At the end of the day,” he uttered, before repeating seconds later, “At the end of the day, they [Tipp] were handed an opportunity [by Kelly] with the last puck of the game the last day in the wrong to win the game. You are nodding your head now, so you agree.”
He was referring to this writer. For that game to be decided by a free that could easily have gone the other way would have been cruel. However, a line must be drawn with Cody’s comments that followed: “If he had said ‘play on’ I would have said fair enough. I could say maybe it might have been a free for us, I wouldn’t have worried about it. If the ball broke and they put it over the bar, fair enough, but you don’t hand a team a free puck and say ‘lads, there you go’. It was like that.”
Questioning the integrity of a proven referee like Kelly is a perilous exercise. When Brian Hogan collided with Pádraic Maher, Kelly clearly believed the Kilkenny man was in the wrong for charging. In fact, the number of frees given for the offence appear significantly up this year on previous seasons.
Kilkenny, as if you need reminding, have had a beef with Kelly since he awarded Davy Glennon a borderline free in the 2012 All-Ireland final, which Joe Canning sent over to force a replay. That prompted an unruly row between Cody and Anthony Cunningham on the sideline.
Then there was last year, when Kelly sent Henry Shefflin to the line for two yellow card offences against Cork s. In the documentary episode focusing on Kelly this past summer, Kilkenny chairman Ned Quinn said something inaudible to him after the game, which prompted the referee to say: “Hey! Hey! Don’t start now!” Following Shefflin’s sending off, Kelly’s microphone picked up Tommy Walsh remarking to him as he jogged past: “What’s gone wrong with ya against us?” Kelly replied: “Be careful. You be very careful [number] 5.”
Kilkenny succeeded in appealing the decision the following month. That process was done at the behest of Cody, the county board and Eddie Keher who expressed his delight on local radio at the restoration of Shefflin’s fine disciplinary record.
Privately, what will give Kilkenny a lot of satisfaction is the fact they beat Tipp in spite of three dubious penalties awarded against them. A Tipperary player was fouled on both occasions in the drawn game but in each case the initial infringement occurred outside the rectangle, while it’s still uncertain if Kieran Joyce illegitimately upended Patrick “Bonner” Maher on Saturday.
But it’s not just referees who get Kilkenny’s goat. Aside from Cody, in three separate interviews Richie Hogan, Eoin Larkin and Richie Power spoke of how the team were written off last year. Kerry players did the same the previous Sunday.
Once upon a time, Cody spoke of Kilkenny’s ordinariness being their trump card. By taking a swipe at Kelly, he has shown he bleeds and hurts like the rest of us. It’s part of the reason he keeps coming back.
Email: john.fogarty@examiner.ie
Where exactly was Brian Cody on Saturday evening when Brian Gavin’s final whistle reaffirmed, as if it was needed, his status as the greatest manager in hurling history?
Midway between the halfway line and the Davin Stand end of Croke Park, beyond both his and Eamon O’Shea’s exclusion area.
Cody is known to be a wanderer on the sideline. Who will forget him dropping to the ground when Michael Jacob’s late goal beat Kilkenny in the 2004 Leinster semi-final? Later that summer in Thurles he roamed the perimeter as his side saw off Galway in Thurles.
Ten years on and Cody was quite the animated figure on the sideline this season. Maybe not to the extent that he was two years ago when he jostled with Anthony Cunningham in the drawn All-Ireland final but enough to show he more than cares.
However, he was in breach of match regulations on Saturday. According to the latest edition of them: “The Bainisteoir is permitted to move along the marked exclusion line, one metre outside the sideline from the 65m line to the 45m line [on the side of the pitch in front of his team’s dugout/designated area].”
Will Kilkenny be punished for such behaviour? It’s unlikely to matter a damn to them and what are the chances of it happening when there have been numerous breaches of sideline regulations throughout this year’s championship in both codes?
The club scene is no different. Just look at what happened in Tralee on Sunday. If the GAA want to engender more respect, they should first show it to the measures they introduce.
The Sunday Game wrapped up for the year this past weekend by naming a team we suspect won’t be too dissimilar to the actual All Stars team set to be named next month.
Undoubtedly, there will be consternation in Cork should, as it’s looking quite likely, none of the Munster champions make it into the team. Conor Lehane is the best bet followed by Mark Ellis and Alan Cadogan but will find it difficult in a highly competitive half-forward line.
It wouldn’t be that much of a surprise, though. After all, 2012 Munster champions Tipperary had no representatives in that year’s best 15 largely due to their heavy All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Kilkenny. If anything, Cork’s to Tipperary this year was worse.
That year, the first of the recent replay finals, four players outside the finalists were selected. Last season, it was three. This time around, that number is set to be even less.
Here are our picks: Darren Gleeson (Tipperary); Paul Murphy (Kilkenny), JJ Delaney (Kilkenny), Seamus Hickey (Limerick); Brendan Maher (Tipperary), Pádraic Maher (Tipperary), Cillian Buckley (Kilkenny); Richie Hogan (Kilkenny), Shane McGrath (Tipperary); Colin Fennelly (Kilkenny); “Bonner” Maher (Tipperary), John O’Dwyer (Tipperary); TJ Reid (Kilkenny), Seamus Callanan (Tipperary), Eoin Larkin (Kilkenny).
Hurler of the year: Richie Hogan (Kilkenny).
Young hurler of the year: Cathal Barrett (Tipperary).
