Cody unhappy with poor Kilkenny defending

There was a moment of levity after this league opener in Salthill yesterday when manager Brian Cody was asked about the missing Kilkenny number three jersey, whether it had been retired with the great Noel Hickey a few weeks ago or perhaps the same Noel had just stashed it in his kitbag on his final day.

“I have no idea about that at all, I thought it was retired after myself,” he laughed.

Brian of course was a fine full-back, a multiple All-Ireland winner and captain, but he wasn’t very impressed with the defending from his side yesterday, the three goals conceded.

“I’d be disappointed. They were goals we shouldn’t be conceding. We’re disappointed to lose the game but overall not too bad. We conceded three goals which is a huge amount and we scored none but in the end there we were fighting [for the draw].”

For Galway manager Anthony Cunningham it was a bit of a curate’s egg — a satisfying win from a not so satisfying display.

“It was a typical first league match really. A lot of cobwebs probably on both sides but we found it very difficult to pull away when we were in pole position a few times and our hurling was rusty. I suppose that performance won’t see us getting past the next day [against Clare in Ennis, two weeks] but we battled hard, that would be the big thing.

” We’d be happy with some of the new players that we had, Davy Glennon and Joseph Cooney. Look, it’s about finding players as well in the league and we’d be happy from that perspective.”

First though for Galway there’s next Sunday’s M Donnelly Inter-Provincial Championship final against Munster, again in Ennis. A good game to have in an off-week for the league reckons selector/coach Mattie Kenny.

“The next few weeks we’ve just got to work on ourselves. We knew in January/February that we were a bit behind in our touch and our ball work.

“We need to bring that part of our game on a bit. But what’s today? The 24th of February, there’s lots of time to pick up on these things.”