Cody draws no comfort in stalemate

Two years down the line, Brian Cody isn’t so certain previous experience of going to an All-Ireland final replay will assist Kilkenny.

Similar to what they did back then, Kilkenny dined in Dublin then returned home while Tipperary last night remained overnight in the capital.

The decision worked for the Cats against Galway but then Clare stayed put last year before beating Cork.

“Ah, I don’t know does it help,” said Cody. “I’m sure they’re more than capable of preparing properly for the replay. It’s their way of doing it and our way of doing it and there’s no magic in it.

“We played a semi-final today and you have to play a final in three weeks’ time in some ways. That’s where we’re at except you’re going back to play the same team again.”

Relieved? Frustrated? Empty? Cody couldn’t tell you how he felt afterwards.

“I don’t know. I have no real phenomenal feelings. You want to win, you want to lose. We neither won nor lost. I’m as I am, to be honest.”

But he could tell you about his team and the manner in which they had carved out goal openings and how they took them. The chances Tipperary manufactured too.

“It says a lot about the quality and the skill in the game and the skill of the players. To create the goal chances first, the ball has to be won and (you need) a lot of players in the field capable of winning that original ball whether it’s on the ground or in the sky. Then to lay it off and all. So there was a lot of skill on both teams and certainly there were a lot of goal chances.”

What Cody conceded he couldn’t inform you of either. It was just that kind of game. “No idea what we conceded, to be honest with you. They conceded what we conceded. I haven’t thought about anything like that. You’re playing against a team who can score easily. I’m sure they will be looking at the same thing.”

After their thrilling encounter with Limerick, he once again recognised character in his charges. “We clawed our way back into this game more so in the first half. We clawed our way ahead at the start of the second half.

“The thing doesn’t change. You still have to go ahead and play the game again and work your way through it. The battle is on. You go ahead. Could it go either way? Yes it could.”

He could smile about the uncanniness of a third final in a row going a replay. “Yeah, it’s amazing I suppose that three years in a row you’ve had a draw in the All-Ireland finals. It’s amazing to think it ended like that. They had dominance and we had dominance. It was a great game, I would imagine, to be able to sit back and watch and relax.”

Meanwhile, the Kilkenny County Board confirmed intermediate and junior games fixed for next weekend will go ahead. That means the likes of Eoin Murphy (Glenmore), Walter Walsh (Tullogher Rosbercon) and Aidan Fogarty (Emeralds) could be in action.