Cody savours the winning feeling

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody hailed his side's historic achievement of an All-Ireland SHC four in-a-row as "outstanding" and "terrific", as he came to terms with the magnitude of it all.

"There is no feeling on earth like the feeling I had at the final whistle," he enthused, reflecting on yesterday's thrilling final win over Tipperary at Croke Park.

"It was a brilliant game and there were questions asked of us right throughout the field and right throughout the 70 minutes."

In a game which was on a knife edge for long spells, Cody always felt his side could pull away for the victory despite the tight nature of the contest.

The Cats already displayed great heart to dig out wins in all of their games this year, and especially against Galway in their Leinster semi-final tussle when it needed a superb final quarter display to overcome the gutsy Tribesmen.

"One thing I'm always absolutely positive about is that we will be fighting in the 72nd, 73rd or 74th minute as hard as we will be at any stage in the game," remarked Cody.

And referencing Kilkenny's first goal, which came from Henry Shefflin's 63rd-minute penalty, Cody felt that that score epitomised his side's spirit.

"The thing about the penalty was Henry Shefflin. It was about character and nerve and skill.

"It was a savage penalty - the ball just burst the net. Three points of a lead is actually nothing in hurling.

"Against Galway we were facing defeat, if you like, as well. We were led by five points going into the second half. That was a tough place to be too.

"I always say the score only matters once in a game. And that is when the final whistle goes.

"It was just a question of keeping going and keeping going, creating breaks, creating something and being able to do it when it really mattered."

It was a brave Kilkenny performance and Cody was not just happy with his side's goal-scoring prowess in the closing stages, but also their ability to stop Tipperary from netting a goal - a team that had already bagged 14 goals in this year's Championship.

"Martin (Comerford) came up with a goal at a pretty crucial time. But goals give you that bit of breathing space.

"All of the talk beforehand was that we were going to be punished by goals but in actual fact that didn't happen. What shone through very clearly for me was the way we finished.

"It was a fierce hard, physical game and still, with 10 minutes to go, the likes of Michael (Rice) was running strongly.

"Then you'd Jackie Tyrrell out 70 yards, gets the ball and hits it over the bar. We finished strongly and athletically and fitness wise and that's massive tribute to Michael Dempsey, Noel Richardson and the people who have worked on that side of things."