Tony Browne: The new tactical Cody could just pull off his greatest trick

I had to ask myself coming out of Walsh Park last Sunday: had I just witnessed Kilkenny playing a short ball possession game? Or were my eyes just deceiving me?

I went home and watched it back on Sky Plus and it turned out, no, the old eyesight is fine still. It’s Brian Cody and Kilkenny have made alterations to how they see things.

For years Kilkenny would just launch ball on top of the likes of Eoin Larkin and Henry Shefflin but now those players aren’t up there anymore. And instead of crying over or yearning for players that’ll be a long time coming around again, Cody appears to have just accepted that reality and changed it up accordingly.