Anthony Daly: There will only ever be one Brian Cody. The absolute master

I had plenty of run-ins with the great man over the years. Yet we were laughing about it afterwards. Anything that happened on the line stayed there

CLOSE QUARTERS: Anthony Daly and Brian Cody had a few run-ins but it was always left on the sideline. Pic: Daire Brennan / SPORTSFILE

My first real memory of the inter-county game was formed around the late 1970s when Clare won two league titles in succession and were desperately scrambling to win an All-Ireland. Cork repeatedly beat Clare during those years and I have a slight memory of the 1978 All-Ireland final when Cork beat Kilkenny to win the three-in-a-row.

That was my first time seeing Brian Cody, who played full-forward that afternoon. I have a clearer memory of him from the early 1980s when Kilkenny won successive All-Irelands with Cody captaining the 1982 team. You nearly always remember the captain. And then, the next time I really saw or heard about Cody was when he took over Kilkenny at the end of 1998.