Places still up for grabs

Brian Cody isn’t a man who wears concern and trailing by five points at the break, having faced a strong breeze, he wasn’t panicking for his Kilkenny side.

“Half-time is half-time. You realise that there’s a lot of time left in the game. Worried is not the word I’d be using.

“You’d be just seeing how things go, see how things went in the first half and see what you’re trying to do, trying to drive things on for the second half.”

But he acknowledged he was satisfied by the manner in which Kilkenny commenced the second half, eating into Galway’s lead and tying up the game 10 minutes in.

“We got into it early and picked up the pace of it. At the end of the day, we worked a bit harder in the second half. We got a good start – a nice few points in-a-row and we got a goal.

“There was nothing in it at all times. The free at the end could have been a goal. It was a very tight game.”

A number of All-Ireland winners were unused substitutes yesterday while Jackie Tyrrell’s injury in training last Tuesday deprived him of game-time yesterday.

Competition is, to say the least, high in Nowlan Park these evenings. “The panel has been tested very, very much during the league. Places are up for grabs and are still up for grabs. That’s the position we wanted to be in.”

As much as it was a day for the rookies in the Kilkenny side, Henry Shefflin contributed strongly with four points from play.

“He had a decent game all through,” agreed Cody. “Whether they’re young faces or old faces or there a while or there a short time, the panel is the panel and places are up for grabs.

“Fellas get the opportunity to play and they grab it. Henry had a decent game. That’s not a surprise.”