Eoin Cody has more than the ghosts of Kilkenny past to exorcise

Eoin Cody of Kilkenny pictured at the launch of the 2026 Leinster GAA Senior Hurling Championship at The Kinnitty Castle Hotel in Kinnitty, Offaly. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

It’s a thin line between standing on the shoulders of giants, and being shackled to the corpses of those same giants.

When Kilkenny fell two points short against Tipperary in last year’s semi-final, it meant that their All-Ireland drought was going to extend to 11 years, making it the longest in the county’s history since their first win all the way back in 1904.

It doesn’t help that this barren run follows an incredible golden era for Kilkenny hurling, one that is still very fresh in the minds of people all across the county.

That’s why at the 2026 Leinster SHC launch where Eoin Cody is flying the flag for the Cats, paradoxically it’s the six-in-a-row provincial champions that are under the most pressure to deliver. That invites the obvious question to the 2023 All Star winner – would it be easier for this current generation to thrive, if they didn’t have the long shadow of the team that won eight titles in ten years over them?

“You could look at it both ways. For us it is absolutely an inspiration,” says the Ballyhale man.

“I grew up wanting to achieve those things and now I am in the Kilkenny senior panel and I haven’t achieved it … it’s not that it’s a burden but it’s something that is hanging over your head. It is a driving ambition, it is an absolute honour and a privilege to wear a Kilkenny jersey whenever you go out to represent those individuals and those teams who represented Kilkenny so well. I think it’s going to make it all the sweeter when we do eventually get over the line.” 

He admits however, that there is a dichotomy there.

“I grew up watching Kilkenny win All-Irelands all those years and you were blessed. In another way, it could be the worst thing to happen when you are a player now and are not as successful. Even yourself, you think, ‘Should we win an All-Ireland every year?’ But that’s just not the way it works. It’s easy to say ‘Oh, we want to win an All-Ireland.’ But it’s not easy to do it.” 

For all the maligning of Leinster in relation to the Munster Championship, Kilkenny haven’t been that far away, losing by two points to the eventual winners (Clare and Tipperary) in each of the past two seasons.

All of that is parked for the moment however with Saturday’s trip to Salthill in mind. It was only last month that Galway ran riot against the Cats in the league at the same venue, winning 0-35 to 0-17target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">. Kilkenny came in for plenty of criticism in the aftermath of that fixture, for example in this paper where Anthony Daly spoke of instances “late on … when Kilkenny players just downed tools”.

Closer to home, it got even more vitriolic, with Andy Comerford telling KCLR FM: “Lads with All-Stars, take them from out from under the pillow, It’s All-Irelands we need. Any of those lads that have All-Stars before, they need to get rid of them, forget about them.

“I left disgusted, like many other supporters that were up there.” 

Cody didn’t push back at Comerford, instead saying that his thoughts weren’t that far away from what the panel felt.

“After the Galway game, I was so disappointed, personally I decided myself to stay away [from media and/or social media]. I didn’t need to be told by pundits or anyone else what went wrong. We had those conversations ourselves.

“Everyone has their own opinions. Andy is a character alright. There was nothing personal. He is a passionate Kilkenny fan and, look, he is right to come across whatever way he wants. We don’t have to use that … it’s his own opinion.” 

Nonetheless, Galway could be forgiven for having a degree of trepidation in advance of the rematch. When Cody says, “I’m really looking forward to seeing what Kilkenny shows up in Salthill,” he does so with a very subtle but unmistakable edge.

“Galway were just the better team and they outfought us, out-performed us, outscored us – and we just didn't answer back. We didn't stand up. We let ourselves down.

“We’re lucky it probably came at the right time. It wasn’t nice but as a team, we came together. Obviously there was a lot of outside noise, we blocked it out, had a few honest conversations amongst ourselves … and really put the shoulder to the wheel.” 

The ghosts of Kilkenny teams of the past can wait. There are other demons that are up for exorcism first.