Cody’s dignity in defeat underlines Cats’ class

IT was hard to escape the feeling that we witnessed the end of an era yesterday.

Brian Cody has been steering the good ship Kilkenny for six long and successful years but he may well decide that now is the time to let someone new take the wheel.

When he took over his duties in late 1998, Cody inherited a team that had won just one Leinster title in five years. It goes without saying that, should he decide to step down, he will do so leaving the county side in far better shape than when he arrived.