Cody’s allegiance to Village will never affect Kilkenny job

LET nobody be under any illusions. The life of an inter-county manager is tough, even tougher at the top.

Take Brian Cody. A couple of days ago, at the launch of the 2005 Allianz NHL, Cody sat at the top table with another two high-profile managers, Galway’s Conor Hayes and Cork’s John Allen. Cody holds the most impressive management cv of the lot, yet, at the end of 2004, despite reaching another All-Ireland final, there were murmurings of discontent around the Marble City.

Some of the sniper fire came from within his own club, James Stephens, where a couple of former Kilkenny stars, Philly Larkin and Brian McEvoy (who had both lost favour as starters with Cody, then lost patience on the bench and quit the panel), were now starring on the club scene.

Pressure from without, pressure from within, how does any man stand it? A couple of minutes in Cody’s company however, and you quickly understand. This guy is tough. Even when that call affects players from James Stephens, his beloved Village, it doesn’t impact on the man himself.

“It doesn’t come into it at all,” he says, emphatically. “I’m a Village man all me life, will be a Village man all me life; I’m manager of Kilkenny as well. I’d be crazy to put myself in a situation where I would feel compromised by my allegiance to the club. My allegiance to James Stephens is total, my allegiance to Kilkenny is total as well, and if there is any player out there I feel should be on the Kilkenny panel, I’ll bring him onto it. If there is any player I feel should not be there, he won’t be there. My dealings with Kilkenny will be absolutely and totally outside of club, club won’t come into it. When I went into the job, I was aware of the possible difficulties that were there. I would go by own judgement, by the judgement of my fellow selectors on that - if we feel that a James Stephens player, young or old, middle-aged, whatever you want to call them, should be brought in, he will be brought in. I’ve had difficult decisions to make in similar situations before, and I’ve made them.”

It might be assumed from the above that Cody has detached himself utterly from the fortunes of his club, the form of Larkin and McEvoy. Absolutely not. The last time James Stephens won a Kilkenny county senior hurling title in 1981, Brian Cody was captain, playing full-back alongside Fan Larkin, Phil’s father. James Stephens went on to win the club All-Ireland, their second title.

On March 17, James Stephens will again contest the All-Ireland club final. The prospect brings a gleam to Cody’s eye.

“It’s important to me, it’s important to everybody in James Stephens, it’s a phenomenal competition. You couldn’t measure the importance of even winning our county championship after 23 years, to everybody concerned. The whole place, young hurlers, all the people, the volunteers who are giving up their time looking after the players, it gave such a lift.”

As for the two lads, again, Cody is effusive.

“Brian McEvoy had a great game last Sunday (semi-final win over O’Donovan Rossa), He has been very, very influential for the club over the last few months; Philly is a real driver in the team, everybody looks to him, he’s been sort of a main man there for a long, long time. Peter (Barry) obviously is there as well, we have other players coming through. Their All-Ireland now is the club All-Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day, their only ambition is to win that, and I can tell you, it’s a major ambition of mine as well.”

So, assuming they keep up this rich vein of form, will they be back on the Kilkenny panel? And here, the other Cody, the Kilkenny Cody, takes over. “That will be totally up to themselves, if they have any interest in that, and they may not have.” But, is the door open? “The panel is open-ended, flexible at all times; it could change from day to day. If we see things that need to be done (we do them), and the players know this, the players respect that and wouldn’t thank me if it was any other way. It’s my job to have the 24, or the 30 best players in Kilkenny on the panel.”

The James Stephens lads, in favour and out, will not be part of Kilkenny’s opening League game tomorrow, but Brian Cody will certainly need the best of the rest if they are to see off the challenge of Waterford. It was in this fixture last year that the Decies signalled their intent for 2004, a rousing win in the Cat’s lair of Nowlan Park. It’s a big game to start the League, possibly the game of the round.

“They’re a top-class team with a burning ambition to go one step further, become All-Ireland champions. They’re just a fraction away. They have two Munster championships won in the last three years, so next Sunday has the makings of a great game. I have no idea how it’s going to go.

“But certainly I’m looking forward to it in a big way.”

And so say all of us.