Cody’s ref remarks surprised Shanahan

Barry Kelly is the ideal man to referee Sunday’s potentially explosive All-Ireland final between Kilkenny and Galway.

That is the verdict of former ‘hurler of the year’ Dan Shanahan, who is looking forward to a titanic tussle.

Shanahan only retired from at the end of 2010 season and knows all about the intensity of games at the highest level. He is surprised Kilkenny manager Brian Cody saw fit to address accusations following his side’s semi-final victory over Tipperary that hurling had crossed the line from physicality to foul play.

Kilkenny have been credited or blamed – depending on your outlook — with ramping up that aspect of the game in recent years but Cody was insistent that his players played within acceptable boundaries.

He expressed concern that Kelly could be swayed to be over-forceful in how he deals with Sunday’s game, as a result of incidents that went unpunished during the semi-final.

Former Galway captain, Ollie Canning reacted to Cody’s comments by suggesting the Kilkenny boss was attempting to influence Kelly. The Westmeath man has been in charge of two previous senior All-Irelands (Kilkenny v Cork 2006 and Kilkenny v Waterford 2008) and Shanahan says he will let the game flow as much as he can.

“The situation with referees and off-the-ball stuff is more in the headlines at the moment than the match,” Shanahan noted yesterday.

“It’s a tricky situation. I never heard Brian Cody coming out before about referees. I think Barry Kelly is a good referee. He’s reffed All-Ireland finals before. This is his third one. He has reffed Kilkenny a good few times, he’s refereed Galway a good few times.

“People should let him to his job and let the game go. It’s a man’s game. You’re going to get one or two little belts in a game.

“Just leave the game flow as best you can. It’s not good to see people coming out talking about referees before the biggest game of the year.”

Shanahan has been very impressed by Galway.

While was surprised by the manner in which they outplayed Kilkenny in the Leinster final, he says they have always been capable of one-off performances.