Cody plays down four on trot talk

DON’T expect any rash statements from Brian Cody over the next couple of weeks about Kilkenny’s date with destiny as they seek to make it four-in-a-row in the All-Ireland hurling final.

He talked it off this time last year as they chased three in-a-row and he was singing the same tune yesterday after another notable success over gallant Waterford.

“To be part of the build-up to an All-Ireland final is where every player and everybody involved wants to be,’’ he said, adding: “It has nothing to do with ‘anything in-a-row.’ I will be here next Sunday just to sit back and relax and enjoy Limerick playing Tipperary and see what happens. And then we can focus on whichever team that is going to be.’’

It was put to him that victory next month would be seen as confirming their place in history as arguably the best team of all time, but he wasn’t for turning. His response was that their build-up to the final will be in Nowlan Park – in other words, not through the pages of the media or over the airwaves.

“It won’t be behind closed doors, it will just be in Nowlan Park and that will be it,’’ he added. Ye’re (media) build-up will just take on a different dimension. Ye’ll have to do as ye do and we’ll do as we do and sometimes we’ll get together and talk about it.

“But that will be it. It will be different agendas.’’

In terms of how the game (describing it as ‘savage) was fought out, Cody said it was ‘up for grabs’ until the final whistle. And, he joked that when it came to goalkeeper PJ Ryan making a marvellous save from Eoin Kelly it had been a case of him ‘practising for it’ after the previous goal. “He was hoping he’d get that opportunity, so fair play to him. It was a great save.’’

“Every time we looked like we might get a bit if breathing space they came back and got scores again. It was just a powerful game. Obviously Waterford came here last year and just didn’t play. We knew they were going to atone for that in a major way. They will not be satisfied obviously because the game was to win but they certainly performed at a very high level.

“My opinion on Waterford is the same now as it was before last year’s All-Ireland final. They are an excellent team and have been for 10 or 11 years now. They have some of the finest individuals to have played the game and brought in some very good young players as well.

“Last year’s final was a one-off thing for us and it was a horrible day for them – an awful thing that could happen any of us. It is not something you wish to happen ever but it happened.’’

Stressing that there had never been any question about the level of ‘hunger’ amongst his players, Cody commented: “I have never suggested our hunger is up for grabs because it won’t be up for grabs. That’s intact, that’s there. I mean the players who go out on that pitch and the players that they represent on the sideline as part of the panel.

“There’s too much involved in all of that to ever go out and give less than your best and I would never even have the slightest worry our hunger would be there. That’s just a guarantee.

Following on from that, he insisted that the margin of victory anytime didn’t matter, that it wasn’t a concern that – in the view of some observers – teams were ‘catching up’ on the Cats. “I’d settle for the single digit any time,” he said.

When it was put to him that Waterford have suffered particularly at the hands of his team over the past decade, Cody made it clear that it would never be a case of him feeling sorry for them. He elaborated: “Whenever we lose I never want sympathy from the opposition or anybody else and I wouldn’t insult Waterford by telling them that I had sympathy for them.

“My opinion of them is of a massively high proportion and the respect I have for them.’’