No sign of the Cody reign ending

LEINSTER SHC QUARTER-FINAL:Offaly v Kilkenny

Then 62, it was anticipated he would call it a day soon after having seen his mentor Jock Stein die from a heart attack at a Scotland game.

Motivated by a host of incentives such as besting Liverpool’s domestic Championship record, Ferguson only packed up his things last month.

Not yet 59, Brian Cody has nobody to knock off their perch. The same ambitions that fuelled his equivalent in England don’t necessarily stimulate him.

Yet in Kilkenny there has been speculation this may just be his final season in charge. That conjecture never goes away, to be honest, as supporters worry about the day the greatest manager in the history of the game steps down.

Perhaps it is a case of adding two with two and getting five but there are those on Noreside who theorise his recent health concerns and the possibility of a 10th All-Ireland title has formed a perfect storm.

Then there are those who hypothesise further and argue Cody will step away when Henry Shefflin bids adieu to the inter-county scene considering their Kilkenny careers have been joined at the hip.

As somebody who knows Cody more than most people and having only spoken to him on Thursday, his former selector and team-mate Noel Skehan can testify neither his recent heart surgery or the magic number 10 won’t influence the manager when he comes to making his decision.

“He is in great shape,” enthuses Skehan, “the best he ever was. I wouldn’t think that would be putting Brian off or it wouldn’t be entering his head to give it up on account of that.

“I never saw him looking as well as he is now. It won’t be because of that he would make a decision about not continuing on. I don’t think it’s even in his head at the moment.

“He’s not about numbers either. This year is the same as the first, the fifth or the sixth... it makes no difference. Every year is a different year and he looks at it that way and the same way with his panel.

“People say to me that he gambles. He doesn’t gamble. People say he gambled with Walter Walsh last year. No way. Walter Walsh was in the panel for a year or more and was playing well in training.

“Brian was being very fair – he wouldn’t just throw a lad into an All-Ireland final replay.”

John Power was there for the embryonic part of Cody’s Kilkenny dynasty and watched on during the latter part of the league as the players impressed in the manager’s absence.

So strong was Martin Fogarty and Michael Dempsey’s respect for the main man that neither wore the bainisteoir bib as they deputised for him.

But Power saw enough in them to suggest Kilkenny will be in good hands when Cody does decide to say farewell to the sideline.

“Being realistic and truthful about it and bringing it back to my farming environment, if you bought a pup and let him off with one or two good dogs the pup will get good as well,” says Power.

“The lads (Fogarty and Dempsey) have a proven track record and they know what’s required for the players.

“The players responded to him not being there and they weren’t going to let the show down in his absence so it was a win-win situation for everybody.”

Kilkenny hurling, stressed Power, means so much to Cody that he will be part of it as long as he so wishes. “You won’t meet a more passionate man about club hurling, Kilkenny hurling or hurling for that matter. I don’t think it’s a question of when he’s going to give up because for the rest of his life he’s going to be involved in hurling in the county in some shape or form.” According to Skehan, leaving a good legacy is something that will be on Cody’s mind.

“Have no doubt that whenever he does do it, things will be that way because most times he will have a hell of a strong panel whether they win an All-Ireland or not.

“Whatever Brian decides, he will leave Kilkenny in good shape. There won’t be a case of a new manager having to build up a new panel.

“Brian will already have that done and everything will be ready to go. He would be thinking like that anyway. Brian being Brian, he won’t want it any other way.”