Brian Cody by numbers

We asked renowned hurling historian Leo McGough to crunch some numbers around Brian Cody And he discovered quite the treasure trove…

Kilkenny’s manager Brian Cody arrives in Crork Park

0: The number of flags his charges raised from play in the first half of Brian Cody’s first game as manager!

That was a third round South East League game against Cork in Nowlan Park on December 6, 1998.

Kilkenny, who had played the opening two rounds under a caretaker management, trailed 2-8 to 0-3 at half-time, their points secured by Damien Cleere (two frees) and Tom Henderson (’65’). Cleere had the honour of scoring Kilkenny’s first goal under the Cody regime while Aidan Lawlor raised the only white flag from play, the first score from play with Cody as ‘bainisteoir’ 

337: The number of competitive games Kilkenny’s senior hurlers have played with Brian Cody as manager. Played 337, Won 240, Drew 17, Lost 80.

Giving two points for a win, a point for a draw, that’s a possible full house of 674, Cody teams accumulating 497, giving a win/draw percentage rating of 74% Note: These figures include a handful of occasions in the Walsh Cup when he handed over the management duties to the U21 selectors and also when, at the business end of 2014 NHL, when recuperating from an operation.

115: Championship games under Cody’s stewardship. 

Kilkenny came out on top on 85 occasions, drawing 8, losing 22. Again on the old fashioned two points for a win, a point for a draw, that’s 178 out of 230, a percentage rating of 77% 166: Kilkenny, under Cody, have played 166 NHL games, winning 118, drawing 7, losing 41.

Again working on two points a win, one a draw, that’s 243/332 for a 73% rating.

51: Walsh Cup games number 51, of which 34 were won, one drawn and 16 lost, one of those losses, the 2018 final, only coming via a free-taking shoot-out after extra-time had failed to separate Kilkenny and Wexford.

4: The Oireachtas, a once great competition, was in its last year when Brian Cody was in his first as manager, Kilkenny, after a four game campaign (a draw and three wins) lifting the title, though that 1999 final was delayed until December 2000. Cody had never won an Oireacthas medal as a player.

45 {+ 1 shared): The bottom line and more important than percentages, the number of titles Kilkenny’s flagship hurlers have won under Brian Cody, the Noreside trophy cabinet, courtesy of his management, having housed the Liam MacCarthy Cup (All-Ireland) 11 times, the Bob O’Keeffe Cup (Leinster) 17 times, the Croke Cup (NHL) 9 times (+ one Covid-share with Galway) the Walsh Cup on 7 occasions and one Oireachtas Cup (the last staging of the competition) 

AS HURLER AND MANAGER 409: Combined number of competitive games as hurler (72) and manager (337) 

58: Combined number of titles won as a player (13) and manager (45) 26: Brian Cody has had a direct involvement on All-Ireland hurling final day on no fewer than 26 occasions!

As a minor hurler he sampled the first Sunday of September in 1971 and 1972 (captaining Kilkenny to the ‘Irish Press Cup’), he was with the Kilkenny seniors as a player in 1973, ’74, ’75, ’78, 1982 and ’83. As a manager Cody has contested 16 finals - 1999, 2000, ’02, ’03, ’04, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09, 2010, ’11, ’12, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’19 winning 11, two (’12 and ’14) in replays.