Cody not milking pain of 2010
He wasn’t the most naturally gifted hurler, but by dint of hard work and iron will he maximised what he had, collected three All-Ireland senior medals on the field of play (including one as captain), two All-Ireland senior club medals, and two All-Stars.
As manager, well, we all know the accolades and awards picked up there over the last 12 all-conquering years for Kilkenny. That was a team moulded in his own likeness, all the basic hurling skills of course, and honed to perfection, but it was also a dedicated, hard-working, team-oriented side, some of the finest individuals the game has known happy to become links in what became an almost unbreakable chain.
Bearing that in mind then, and regardless of how gracefully he accepted defeat in last September’s All-Ireland final, that loss to Tipperary still hurts Cody and his team to the core.
Yesterday in Nowlan Park, as Glanbia launched its 2011 sponsorship of all Kilkenny county hurling teams, Cody spoke of that pain but, in typical Cody fashion, it was very quickly dismissed.
“You lose matches — regardless of the competition you’re playing in — and you’re hugely disappointed. The reality is though that only one team can win the All-Ireland. It was no surprise to me that Tipperary won the All-Ireland final, and shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone else. Tipperary are a top team. But the weeks go by, the months go by and we’re into hurling again. The euphoria of winning never carried us past the Christmas, but the sheer disaster of losing is there. You’ll always remember when you lost — you’ll remember the losses more than the wins, all the ‘if only’s’.
“But there’s no point in ‘if-only’ either; last year is done and dusted, it’s gone. Now we look to this year.”
That’s always been his way, of course. ‘If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same’ might have been penned by Brian Cody rather than Rudyard Kipling, because every year at this time, regardless of whether Kilkenny were chasing three-in-a-row, four-in-a-row, five-in-a-row, or coming off an All-Ireland loss (as happened on very few occasions during his tenure, admittedly!), his attitude remained the same.
“I don’t look back, I’m not interested in last year, or the year before — if you start looking back and thinking of what happened you’re losing sight of where you need to be. My focus now is this year, completely. I am looking at the Walsh Cup final on Sunday, getting things right in training, and it was the same last year and the year before.
“The fact we didn’t win the All-Ireland doesn’t matter to me now. The fact that we did win the previous four doesn’t matter to me now either. We’re not thinking of different circumstances; the same competitions are up for grabs every year, there’s no guarantee going with any of them — someone is going to win them, that’s all.
“The starting point is never ‘We’re going for this or we’re going for that’ – we’re just going out to play the best hurling we can. We’ll put everything we possibly can, obviously, into winning the championship, but also the league, we’ll be taking that seriously as well. It all kicks off Sunday with the Walsh Cup final.”
The Walsh Cup, against a resurgent Dublin, with newcomers Ryan O’Dwyer — transferred from Tipperary — and Conal Keaney. “Yeah, one player can strengthen a team hugely, but two players – Ryan O’Dwyer was very much in the running to make an excellent Tipp panel, and everyone knows how good Conal Keaney is. Before he concentrated on football he was as good a hurler as there was in the country. I saw him play with Ballyboden St. Enda’s in the club championship for the last two years, and he was outstanding; back hurling full-time, he’s going to be a huge boost to them. Dublin are improving, improving, improving.”
As for himself, and his players, the hunger is there, he assures us, and as great as ever, as is the commitment.
“Sport at this level is about commitment. All the variables are there, the skills and so on, that’s what gets you there, but then it’s about commitment. That’s absolutely intact, I’ve no worries on that score.”
GAA chiefs last night announced date changes to this season’s Leinster Senior Hurling Championship.
The Leinster SHC semi-final between Kilkenny and either Wexford, Antrim or Laois, is fixed for June 11 and not June 18.
The other last-four clash (Galway/Carlow/Westmeath v Dublin/Offaly) is on June 18 and not June 11.
Carlow’s clash with Westmeath, fixed originally for May 15, is now moved to May 22.
Sources revealed the changes were due to television scheduling demands.
Meanwhile Féile na nGael is to be played on June 24/25/26 in Galway and not June 17/18/19 while Féile Peil na nÓg will now start and finish a day earlier — Thursday June 31 to Saturday July 2.
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