Another ‘false start’ could prove costly

Scan the catalogue of Kilkenny’s All-Ireland final wins under Brian Cody and there’s a theme that runs through most of them — healthy starts.

Those beginnings can be broken into two groups — great on most occasions (Offaly 2000, Clare ’02, Cork ’03, Limerick ’07, Waterford ’08, Tipperary ’11) and good on others (Cork ’06, Tipperary ’09).

It’s something that has long characterised the vast majority of SHC victories enjoyed by Cody’s Cats, a fact that clearly hasn’t been lost on the Galway management. Start as you mean to go on and you’ll almost certainly give Kilkenny a game of it.