Cody pulled the masterstroke

In the end, they just shook hands and exchanged mild salutations.

Anthony Cunningham accepted defeat just like Brian Cody acknowledged victory – as a gentleman.

Having seen his team’s chances blown by the combined force of David Herity’s Davin Stand goal, Cyril Donnellan’s rashness but above all else the might of Kilkenny, what else could the Galway manager do?

But for 40 minutes or so, the duel that had us yearning for a sideline cameo, after their tete-a-tete at the end of the first game, was living up to its billing.

Three weeks may have past but there was plenty residual heat in the opening half between the two men.

Cody’s selector, Mick Dempsey, was certainly more prominent on the sideline and in the early stages appeared to be marking Cunningham. Martin Fogarty, Cody’s right-hand man, had to be asked to sit down by the fourth official in the seventh minute.

Kilkenny were making the presence felt on the whitewash. Things were nice enough in the 13th minute when Cody and Cunningham smiled and agreed to disagree on the legitimacy of a Jackie Tyrrell shoulder, the same player whose actions caused such friction between the pair on September 7. Shrugging their shoulders, the irony wasn’t lost on either on them.

However, strong sentiments were swapped in the 19th minute after Iarla Tannian had tangled with Richie Power after the Kilkenny forward’s goal. It being the third goal in two minutes, both managers could hardly be blamed for getting caught up in the moment as the game caught fire and the 82,274 Croke Park crowd erupted.

But just seconds later they were again arguing, this time over a sideline at which point it appeared the pair were renewing their feud. It was hardly followed up on, though. Apart from each remonstrating with the referee and sideline officials about decisions going against them, all was calm on their battle verge.

If, in the first game, Cody was guilty of having no faith in the auxiliaries sitting behind him, he made full sure of options on this occasion. Aidan Fogarty was extremely unlucky to be collared on Friday evening and consigned to the bench but he, like Colin Fennelly, were almost tactical omissions.

Whether Cody explained that to them or not we may never know but we expected Cillian Buckley to move to midfield and add some steel to counter Tannian, who had reaped so much from targeting Richie Hogan the last day.

Watching Buckley on the receiving end of a crushing Conor Cooney shoulder early in the second-half, that logic may have been questioned but the U21 player held his own.

Walter Walsh, on the other hand, was the equivalent of a pawn being pushed to an advanced square. It was audacious, novel, it might be deemed unKilkenny-like, but it put Galway on the backfoot.

Johnny Coen was the obvious candidate for him given that he knew more about the debutant than anybody else from the counties’ U21 All-Ireland semi-final. Yet he was giving the Tullogher-Rosbercon man four inches in height not to mention almost two and a half stone. Coen did well considering the mismatch but Walsh was the clear winner, doing exactly what was required of him

Cody was matter-of-fact about the decision to pick him afterwards just as he appeared to be with the player himself afterwards. Walsh: “He (Cody) just said well done and asked me was I alright to play Walsh Cup next year. I said, ‘I was’.”

It wasn’t as if Cunningham and his men Mattie Kenny and Tom Helebert didn’t anticipate Walsh’s potential. But, in landing him into the Kilkenny team just two days before the final, Cody – a man who would prefer not to be known for tactics – produced what turned out to be a trump card.

After the Leinster final, after the first All-Ireland final game, it was Galway who were lauded for styming Kilkenny’s starts and fashioning mismatches like running Andy Smith and Damien Hayes at Brian Hogan.

Ultimately, it was Cody who pulled the masterstroke. Three weeks ago, he was criticised for lacking a plan B. He didn’t need his back-up yesterday, he had a better plan A.

Three things we learned

Henry is still the king

Old Cats can teach new tricks

The clichéd game of inches and seconds

Like a defiant mother with a petulant child, he gripped Kilkenny’s hand despite their kicking and screaming in the first game and refused to let go. Yesterday, Shefflin got even closer to a third Hurler of the Year award after a display that the record books will tell he scored nine points but on closer analysis will show he did so much more.

The majority of his team-mates may have ignored his lead on September 9, but not on this occasion. He set the pitch early enough and they were paying attention. Given how poor they had started against Galway the last two days, it was imperative that they started well.

As much as Shefflin shot his first effort wide and hit three past the dead-ball line by the end, he was a beacon of brilliance, wasting little and giving Tony Óg Regan a torrid time. We’ll miss him when he’s gone but we should have another 12 months of him at the very least.

Walter Walsh belied his inexperience with a display that harked back to Christy Heffernan. Okay, he looked awkward at times but was an excellent nuisance, proving a great focal point in the Kilkenny forward line and held the ball well. He also made himself available time after time, getting free and taking a Shefflin pass in the 24th minute to stick over his second point.

His goal was just about being at the right place at the right time and he left the field immediately afterwards to a rapturous reception. Few players score 1-3 from play in All-Ireland finals – Shefflin only did it the once in 2002 — never mind on their debuts and what appeared a gamble on Cody’s part didn’t look like it at all by the time he departed in the 59th minute.

Kilkenny are creatures of habit but when they force the opposition into thinking twice.

But for James McGrath blowing up a foul on Cyril Donnellan before he found the net, but for the butt of the goalpost denying Joe Canning, but for Donnellan connecting with JJ Delaney...

Galway will have plenty to chew on over the coming days. They were undoubtedly beaten by the better side but when the game was still in the oven everything went against Galway. Had Canning’s strike, which had beaten David Herity, found the net the game would have been tied up.

Up to that stage, Galway had managed just one point from play, in the 39th minute. Yet their ability to create goal chances kept them in the game and Donnellan could be forgiven for cursing his luck after beating Herity only after McGrath blew for a Galway free. Donnellan was silly, though, to respond to JJ Delaney’s holding in the 49th minute.

Benny Dunne showed in 2009 that you just can’t afford to retaliate.