Will to win decided it, says Cody
He predicts that it will come down to a test of mental strength. “We have a massive battle on our hands,” he said yesterday. Interestingly, in view of the massive contribution of DJ Carey to the win over Tipperary, Cody conceded that his star forward might never have made it back without the benefit of club activity. Additionally, he pointed out that Jimmy Coogan’s exposure with Tullaroan in recent games had also helped raise his public profile.
Cody was responding to a question about how he had managed to avoid the difficulties that confronted Waterford after their six-weeks’ lay-off - and which Kilkenny themselves encountered last year prior to playing Galway, and he acknowledged that club activity had facilitated Carey’s return.
“Yes it did,” he said, “and not only for DJ because we ‘know’ him but also some of the fringe players. Jimmy Coogan came on and scored a goal and a point - a fabulous point - and he finished a great goal. He was a player nobody would have been expecting to come on. Jimmy has been scoring ten and eleven points for his club in the last matches he played. Bad players can’t do that on a regular basis. We try and get the message out to everybody all the time. We get to see players playing with their club; we inquire about them and we hear as much about them as we possibly can. At the end of the day, you can only pick lads on how they are playing ‘right now.’ And, if you’re doing it with your club, it’s a fair indication that you are going well.”Acknowledging that some counties abandon their domestic championships when their county teams are doing well, Cody said he would never advocate such a practice. “It’s important to keep the club games going. After the Leinster final, two rounds of the club matches went ahead. It’s a league championship, but essentially it has a real bearing on how the championship pans out for the various teams. They are every bit as important as the county team and that it the way it should be.
“And the players need to get away from each other. You can’t keep them together for six weeks. They need to get back to their clubs, where it all starts for them and where it all finishes for them. They come back then when the batteries are recharged. We tore into training then. Essentially, that was all we could do. We couldn’t play challenge matches, so we had to have our training sessions serious.”
Cody accepts that the current championship structure places the provincial champions at something of a disadvantage and needs to be improved. “You would not choose to play a provincial final and then wait six weeks for a massive game where the team you are going to be playing will have had two games in between. It’s not yet the best system in place, but they have improved it and I am sure they will continue to do so. I would say myself that you can talk in terms of being sharp and being physically ready, but mentally we were more ready than last year (when they flopped against Galway).
“That’s my responsibility essentially to make sure you are ready and most of all mentally ready, because teams are as fit as each other, more or less. It’s the mental sharpness, hunger and desire that matter - and I think we were stronger in that on Sunday than we were last year.” Meanwhile, he explained that DJ Carey’s belated reintroduction to the panel had been the result of ongoing communication between the two, with team captain Andy Comerford also having encouraged it. “It looked like the year was disappearing on him definitely and the setback of the appendix was unfortunate after getting a few club matches behind him,” said Cody. “He felt himself that the year would be gone on him. Then we played Wexford in the Leinster final and it was just simply that I had a chat that night with Andy. He felt, as I felt, that we should give him a shout and see how he was fixed. I spoke with him the next day and we had a chat. Then a few days later he contacted me. He had been in contact with a number of people and probably spoke to a few players as well. He said: ‘if you want me, I am prepared to have another go at it.’ There were no strings attached. The wonderful thing about DJ, I have always claimed, is that he is put up there as a superstar, but he never behaves like one. To me he is the hardest worker we have on the field. He trained like a dog and we trained him like a dog. We pushed him, but we demanded no more or no less from him than from anybody else.”
Cody is aware, however, that it is a rejuvenated Clare his team will be facing in the final. “As regards spirit, I would say that regardless of how the All-Ireland final goes, there is wonderful spirit in lots of teams. But there will be no team stronger in spirit than our team. Clare to me have been a wonderful team and the forgotten thing about them is that the players who were great when Clare were winning All-Ireland finals are still great. And they are still at a wonderful age 28/29/30, that kind of an age group where you are really at the peak of your powers.
They have mental strength in abundance. They love coming to Croke Park. They decide how matches are going to be played. They dictate matches.
They went seven points down to Galway and six points down to Waterford and came back to win both.
“All-Ireland finals come down to mental strength. You are always going to have talent on both sides and you are always going to have fitness levels on both sides.
“It’s the mind and it’s the steel and the will to win that decides it. Clare have proven they have an abundance of mental strength.
“They are the team that have epitomised leadership on the field over the last seven or eight years. We have a massive battle on our hands.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
