Cody cool after ‘great win’

IT seemed another comfortable day at the office for his charges, but as usual, Brian Cody wasn’t having any of that old talk.

To be fair, in a hurling context, seven points is nothing but Kilkenny were in such command in the second half it never looked like their bid for a record-equalling sixth Leinster title in a row would be derailed.

“It wasn’t that apparent to me,” he said afterwards. “I’d say we got a decent start, we got a goal early on but they got a goal back, and I’d say for the last 10, possibly 15 minutes of the half, they dominated and came at us really strongly.

“Obviously the first ten or 15 minutes of the second half we go on to a great bit of form and tapped over some great points. We got a decent lead early in the second half and we certainly had the opportunities to put more daylight between us and we didn’t take it.

“In the end it was comfortable when the final whistle blew, but all along they were capable, the danger was there of pulling it back, but it was a great win for us.”

When it was put to him that his side had hit 17 wides, Cody turned to TJ Reid for an explanation, but his captain was keeping quiet.

So the manager interpreted it in a positive light, seeing it as an example of how many chances his men created.

That it wasn’t a factor was down to Galway’s poverty in attack and in particular, the failure of Joe Canning to have any impact on the game. But Cody insisted that there had been no tactics to deal with the expected threat of the Portumna star.

“There was no plans because first of all we had no idea where Joe was playing. We didn’t know the team.

“As it turned out he started centre-forward so we didn’t have a man-marking job on any particular forward at all.

“We always tend to concentrate on our own team anyway and at the end of the day everybody has a job to do for the team and whoever is playing in a particular position has to do that job.”

As is customary at this time of year, Cody concluded with a defence of Leinster hurling.

“It was always going to be a huge challenge. They talked about the Leinster championship for years being easy which it never was. It is massively competitive. We see what Offaly did, and how Carlow played against Antrim. Outstanding.

“There has been a terrific drive in Leinster hurling. Wexford were disappointing yesterday but Offaly’s two games against Galway were excellent and again today. The Leinster title is a tough thing to win. We are thrilled we won it because it gets you into an All-Ireland semi-final and that is a huge prize.”