Focused Cody looking to the challenges ahead

BRIAN CODY is rarely one to indulge in hyperbole so his typically understated response to Henry Shefflin’s latest historic feat shouldn’t perhaps have surprised.

King Henry overtook another classy cat, Eddie Keher, as the Championship’s all-time leading scorer with his 0-12 haul at Croke Park yesterday, taking his career total to 22-382.

It’s a statistics to impress the grandchildren in future years but now, as Cody clearly felt, is not the time for congratulatory back slapping.

“To be honest, I’m more concerned about what he (Shefflin) is going to do for the rest of this year,” quipped Cody.

“That’s the only concern I have with Henry.

“Henry doesn’t need me to talk about him. He’s past is as it is.

“Today on is my only concern with Henry.

“I’m very happy to have that concern around the place.”

The tone of Cody’s reply was in keeping with his general response to the 19-point win over Dublin which he claimed flattered his team.

“Certainly the scoreboard didn’t reflect the nature of the game or the difference between the teams by a long shot,” continued Cody.

“We got an early goal and probably Richie Power’s goal was the real clinching goal but they had opportunities right throughout the game and we’re just happy to win the game.

“We have to make huge improvements for the Leinster final.

“We made a lot of mistakes throughout the game but at the end of the day the spirit was good and the workrate was good and that’s the starting point. But it will be a step up the next day.

“The winners of Galway and Offaly will have had two serious games behind them and they’ll be better prepared for a Leinster final match-wise than we will be. So the challenge is there.”

Asked where exactly Kilkenny need to improve after a brilliant defensive display and a scoring tally of 4-19, he said: “I’d say right throughout the field. We probably had a lot of wides that we shouldn’t have had.

“Thankfully the panel is there, the panel is decent, there’s no about about that. Only 15 of them can starts and that’s the way it will work and we’ll see what will happen the next day.”

It was hard not to feel that the spirit-sapping loss may undo much of the good work done by Anthony Daly in the capital.

A year ago there was only six points between these sides, yesterday there was 19.

“A tough day at the office,” was Daly’s post match reaction. “We were in it for a long time but we didn’t hurl ourselves. It is hard to believe we were only down by five at half-time considering how it finished up.

“We actually went in at half-time and said, ‘If we had only hurled...’ Then there were the sloppy mistakes we had made.

“It is hard to be very positive after the result but sure we do what we have to do. We have three weeks now to a qualifier and we have to get ready.”

In the past Daly has used the tactic of deploying an extra man in the half-back line in battles with Kilkenny.

“We could have blatantly left Johnny McCaffrey behind the half-back line for the day,” noted Daly.

“But we didn’t, we only did it for their puck outs. Ah, look, we were going for balls and going down over them with one hand and lads were expecting to catch them like you would at training on a Tuesday night.

“You are drilling it into them that Kilkenny are going to get in a flick or a block and you must cover the shot and then the fellas revert to type when they go out. Still, I wouldn’t be despondent either. I just think we are not that bad, we are not 19 points off that level. It’s just when it gets away from you against a team like Kilkenny, they will continue to pile on the scores against you.”