Tyrrell steps up to take us inside the Cats’ camp at last

FINALLY, IT has arrived: a book from the Kilkenny hurling camp that dares to be controversial and ruffles a few feathers. Brian Cody’s autobiography was framed in a manner to ensure little or nothing was given away about the inner workings of the camp, while Henry Shefflin’s was mind-numbingly dull for a player with so many notable achievements to his name.

Step forward then to accept your debt of gratitude, Jackie Tyrrell, because ‘The Warrior’s Code - My Autobiography’ is a compelling read from start to finish.

The nine-time All-Ireland medal winner was never a major headline grabber, but it cannot be denied that he got the maximum out of his talent during a long stint of service in the Kilkenny full-back line.

And while the book doesn’t hold back in terms of revelations from within the camp and their less than charitable attitudes towards Tipperary and Cork in particular, one aspect of it comes as a disappointment from a Wexford point of view.

It’s no fault of Tyrrell or his ghost writer, Christy O’Connor, either might I add.

I’m referring to the virtually non-existent references to Kilkenny’s clashes with Wexford during the course of Tyrrell’s career.

It just goes to show how far we have fallen off the radar as a hurling county, as the James

Stephens man wasn’t troubled by the Slaneysiders for the majority of his career with the notable exception of 2004.

Wexford only really features briefly in a few references early on in the book.

Tyrrell learned a lot after being taken for a match-winning goal by

Rory Jacob in an Under-21 game in 2002, while he was also given a lesson in a derby club tie against O’Loughlin Gaels by former Wexford footballer Colin Furlong who played previously with St. Patrick’s when his parents owned a pub in Camolin.

Tyrrell has high regard for John Meyler who managed and coached him during his time in C.I.T., playing a big role in his development in the Fitzgibbon Cup cauldron.

However, he makes one glaring factual error on page 83 when he states in a reference to his involvement with St. Kieran’s in 1999: ‘I played the first round of the Leinster championship against Good Counsel but James McDonald roasted me’.

James, of course, was a St. Peter’s stalwart, and to mix the two arch-rivals up is as glaring an error as to think a Kieran’s player is from Kilkenny C.B.S.

Tyrrell must be confused because his school played against both Wexford schools that year. After beating Counsel by 0-14 to 0-8, he was sent-off in a 0-15 to 1-9 victory against Peter’s in Bagenalstown a fortnight later, and that’s the game he’s referring to here.

A simple fact-checking exercise by the author would have avoided this sloppy error.

We learn in the book that Tyrrell’s ‘go-to’ person in terms of his personal development was Br. Damien Brennan, the Laois-born former Kilkenny Minor hurling manager who was his sounding board for advice throughout a lengthy career.

His personal relationship with Cody didn’t appear to be as warm despite being club colleagues, although it’s clear that they shared a deep mutual respect nonetheless.

Most people would be turned off Kilkenny books at this stage after the previous dross dished out, but this one’s an exception. ALAN AHERNE

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