Cats hope it’s lucky 13 as Cody appointed again

He may be entering his 13th season, which some might regard as being unlucky, but Kilkenny County Board had absolutely no misgivings when re-appointing Brian Cody as senior hurling manager last night.

All it took to have the James Stephens man ratified for another 12 months was for chairman Paul Kinsella to put the name before the board’s monthly meeting.

There was an instant proposer and seconder and the job was completed within a minute.

Cody, who has guided the county to seven All-Ireland victories since taking on the job in 1999, will be joined on the selection committee by Michael Dempsey and Martin Fogarty.

The trio guided Kilkenny to a first four-in-a-row between 2006 and 2009 but the bid for what would have been a historic fifth consecutive win was halted by Tipperary in September.

The Board also ratified the appointment of Adrian Ronan as manager of the minor hurling team in succession to Richie Mulrooney, who guided the county to victory in two of the last three All-Ireland finals. Michael Walsh was re-appointed as manager of the U-21 county team.

Meanwhile Tipperary GAA chiefs are set to appoint Declan Ryan as senior hurling boss at tonight’s scheduled county board meeting.

Because of the protocols involved in the process, no-one from the committee of nine (county board chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer, secretary and PRO, along with the chairmen of the four divisional boards) who were charged with coming up with replacements for All-Ireland-winning manager Liam Sheedy and his selectors were prepared to comment last night.

However, sources confirmed that Ryan and Tommy Dunne will be the new coach and manager respectively, while Thurles Sarsfields manager Michael Gleeson is expected to be named as selector.

Liam Sheedy’s decision to call it a day took everyone by surprise, and immediately the speculation as to who would be a worthy replacement began.

Former All-Ireland-winning captain (1989) and manager (2001) Nicky English was the first and most obvious candidate, but – as with Liam Sheedy – massive work commitments meant that he was unable to take the job.