Cats hope it’s lucky 13 as Cody appointed again

HE may be entering his 13th season, which some might regard as being unlucky, but Kilkenny County Board had absolutely no misgivings when re-appointing Brian Cody as senior hurling manager last night.

All it took to have the James Stephens man ratified for another 12 months was for chairman Paul Kinsella to put the name before the board’s monthly meeting.

There was an instant proposer and seconder and the job was completed within a minute.

Cody, who has guided the county to seven All-Ireland victories since taking on the job in 1999, will be joined on the selection committee by Michael Dempsey and Martin Fogarty.

The trio guided Kilkenny to a first four-in-a-row between 2006 and 2009 but the bid for what would have been a historic fifth consecutive win was halted by Tipperary in September.

The Board also ratified the appointment of Adrian Ronan as manager of the minor hurling team in succession to Richie Mulrooney, who guided the county to victory in two of the last three All-Ireland finals. Michael Walsh was re-appointed as manager of the U21 county team.

Meanwhile Tipperary GAA chiefs are set to appoint Declan Ryan as senior hurling boss at tonight’s scheduled county board meeting.

Because of the protocols involved in the process, no-one from the committee of nine (county board chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer, secretary and PRO, along with the chairmen of the four divisional boards) who were charged with coming up with replacements for All-Ireland-winning manager Liam Sheedy and his selectors were prepared to comment last night.

However, sources confirmed that Ryan and Tommy Dunne will be the new coach and manager respectively, while Thurles Sarsfields manager Michael Gleeson is expected to be named as selector.

Liam Sheedy’s decision to call it a day took everyone by surprise, and immediately the speculation as to who would be a worthy replacement began.

Former All-Ireland-winning captain (1989) and manager (2001) Nicky English was the first and most obvious candidate, but – as with Liam Sheedy – massive work commitments meant that he was unable to take the job.

Even with English ruling himself out, however, the triumvirate of Ryan/Dunne/Gleeson is as close to the Dream Team as Tipperary could have managed, and the first two – if not all three – would have been expected to feature on whatever management team was going to be proposed. Apart from his role with the minor team in 2007, Michael Gleeson is a well-established manager in his own right, having presided successfully over his native Thurles Sars in recent years. This year, and for the first time since the mid 60s, the end of the greatest era the club had ever known, Sars retained the senior title in Tipp, toughed out a few good wins along the way, Gleeson’s mark very much on the team. He may be the least known of the trio, but as with Michael Ryan this year, who was seen as the lesser light behind Liam Sheedy and coach Eamonn O’Shea, he would bring his own strengths to the set-up. Overall, an astute choice by the committee, and sure to prove popular in Tipperary.