Brian Hogan: How Cody used semi-final lead-in to crank up Kilkenny intensity

Former Kilkenny star Brian Hogan believes that Cats boss Brian Cody comes into his own during the break between the Leinster final and the All-Ireland semi-final

Fri, 01 Jul, 2022 - 16:40

TJ Galvin

Former Kilkenny star Brian Hogan believes that Cats boss Brian Cody comes into his own during the three/four week break between the Leinster final and the All-Ireland semi-final.

Kilkenny have only had one championship game in the last six weeks, the Leinster final win over Galway.

Speaking on the Irish Examiner Hurling Podcast, the seven-time All-Ireland winner said that in his time Cody would allow his players back to their clubs and play one or two rounds of club games.

"When I was playing he (Cody) would have allowed you go back to your club the week post the Leinster final. There'd be one if not two rounds of club matches. And obviously there's a risk that lads get injured but there's a risk they get injured in training as well and his outlook was very much you're club players first.

"I would have seen the benefit of it that certain lads are kind of stuttering through the early stages of the championship, they're gone stale, they just can't get a bit of momentum.

“They go back to the clubs, they play one or two rounds, they may shoot the lights out. There's two or three in particular that come to mind and they come back and are completely rejuvenated. They have a couple of pints after a good competitive league match with the club and there's a release.

"I often found any more than four weeks in together and things just become Groundhog Day, become stale, whereas if you go out for a week and come back, three weeks is nearly ideal.

"A week to recover, a week to build up, and then a week to kind of wind down in preparation for a match was generally the way we worked it.

"You're coming off a Leinster final now it's very much kind of recovery week, very low intensity that weekend. The following weekend you're starting to build it up and that middle week is where you do a lot of full contact.

"I know the boys went away on a training weekend, that's generally where you do a condensed amount of work in a short period of time and then it's really kind of tapering it down, making sure you're fresh.

"From a physical perspective the work is done months ago. You're not doing any long runs, it's all short reaction stuff, it's all sharpening in preparation for the next match, the semi-final.”

Kilkenny's internal games were the stuff of legend during Hogan's playing time and he says Cody would try to replicate the intensity of championship matches, often stopping training if he felt the players weren’t tuned in.

"You try and replicate the match you're going to be going into. It's 15-a-side, you do a 15 minute block of high intensity, come in assess, go back out.

"Or if it's not going well three minutes and he blows the whistle and you know you're in trouble because he'll call you in and he'll make it very clear that's not what he's looking for.”

Hogan says the science and preparation has changed in recent times and fitness programmes have become more tailored to an individual player.

"The boys would have had a couple of heavy sessions but you can't flog lads for three weeks either. It's fairly measured, the same in Limerick, the same in Clare. It's very scientific now they're nearly listening to the S&C guys and hardly coaches and more so.

"They're the guys who nearly dictate what they feel is necessary. It's almost getting to a point now, or at least it should be, where certain players are being pulled maybe because of the workload they feel actually you know this guy is maxing out, we don't need him to take this session for fear of a hamstring injury or whatever. That's the way it's gone."