Cody: Thinking the game is over 'not too clever'

As Kilkenny piled on the misery against Offaly in the closing stages of their Leinster quarter-final in Nowlan Park a couple of weeks ago, supporters of the Faithful County would have begged for mercy from Brian Cody and the Cats.

Yet today, Galway demonstrated that miraculous comebacks can happen from situation, and the Kilkenny boss afterwards reminded everyone of why his team has heaped score upon score onto opponents in the past.

“There’s no lead too big in hurling at this level. A team gets a goal and they get a bit of momentum, and that’s what happened, for both teams. Anyone that thinks the game is over with ten minutes left is just not too clever.”

The legendary James Stephens man also highlighted how he felt that the draw wasn’t a smash and grab raid, but simply the end result of two well matched teams in a game that ebbed and flowed.

“It went in phases really. We started off well, they came back into it, very soft goals were scored by both teams in the first half. After that we got some good scores, they came back at us, got two penalty goals. Ten points is nothing in this game, the only time the scoreboard matters is when the final whistle blows, regardless of what happens before that, it’s all about trying to be ahead at that stage. Neither team succeeded in that.”

“The result was as it started and as it was at half time so you’d have to say it was a very even game”, he added.

Critics would look at the penalty goal that was scored on the stroke of seventy minutes to tie up the game and wonder how Jonathan Glynn was given acres of space to attack behind the Kilkenny full back line, at a time when the game was on the line. Brian Cody refused to blame his defence however, simply putting it down to a breaking ball.

“Two lads went for the same ball, it does happen, I wouldn’t be pinpointing anybody at all. A team is a team, we defended very well at times, we attacked very well at times and they played some very good hurling.”

Strong performances from Tommy Walsh and Aidan Fogarty off the bench will give Cody some cause for consideration in advance of next Saturday’s replay, not to mention the vital cameo from Henry Shefflin, but that’s not a situation that Cody considers to be anything other than a healthy and happy outcome of having good strength in depth.

“It’s easier to pick a team from a panel like that than from a panel where you’re looking for players. We’ve a strong panel and it’s a nice problem to have.”

Michael Fennelly is one panellist won’t be involved in that replay after Cody confirmed that the former hurler of the year will be absent for at least another few weeks.

“He’s got a back injury and he won’t be involved next weekend. It’s been niggling at him for a while and while we hope it’s not long term, we don’t know yet beyond the fact that he’ll miss a few weeks at least.”