Cody cultivates will to win in new-look crop of Cats
So his moment of levity after Sunday's NHL win over old rivals Tipperary was surprising. When mention was made of some of the shocks in the League, Cody couldn't help but grin and say: "And another surprise in Semple Stadium now as well!"
And it was a surprise. Not the fact that Kilkenny had won, but that they won so convincingly. Without exaggeration, their nine-point margin of victory could as easily have been nine goals, but for the brilliance of Tipperary keeper Brendan Cummins. The ease of the Kilkenny win is partly explained by the lifeless, listless, clueless performance of Tipperary. But great credit must go to a new-look Kilkenny for the quality of their hurling, and to Cody who put this side together.
Foolishly, a lot of pundits are writing off Kilkenny for the championship. Badly exposed by Galway in last year's semi-final, the view is that Kilkenny are gone and will take some years to get back up to speed. This about a county that has often dominated at almost every level for the past several years? True, some of the senior stars are ageing, but what of the enormous talent pool in Kilkenny?
"That's no secret," said Cody.
"Now we're at the stage where there's a genuine transitional team, a panel of players in training. An awful lot of those are new to the scene; we're blooding them as we go along. I'm certain they're good players, but how good remains to be seen. I'm happy we have good spirit in the team, decent commitment and a lot of good players. We'll keep moving things round a small bit right through the League to find out the quality of player we have, but also to try and win the matches."
Even in the midst of that transition, a Cody constant remains true - the will to win.
"Everybody says we take the League too seriously, but we try to win every match we play, and I've yet to meet the team that doesn't. Once the ball is thrown in, any competitive player whether you think you're an automatic or you're just fighting for your place has got to deliver on the day.
"I can never understand the rationale behind those who say they're not really trying to win the League. It doesn't really make sense."
And so Kilkenny will keep doing what they have always done under Cody - they will approach every game with serious intent, giving their best. If they're beaten it will never be for want of effort.
A massive difference between the two teams Sunday was the defensive effort of the Kilkenny forwards when they were without possession, an effort which was consistent from first whistle to last. Tipperary only had that for the third quarter, the only period of the match when they showed any kind of resolve. That's the kind of team effort, from the forwards especially, that Cody demands. And he was especially pleased that his young forward sextet delivered that Sunday.
"They were going well, made some good openings, created an awful lot of chances. Obviously Brendan Cummins was in inspirational form and made some great saves, but I'm always pretty happy when we're creating chances. In the second half we didn't play as well. They dominated for the first 20 minutes, without punishing us too much on the scoreboard. That's the way games go, you're not going to dominate for the full 70 minutes.
"But it's how you perform when you're not on top that will probably decide how you do."
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