Cody’s desire is still burning as he rages against game’s elitism
‘The years don’t
seem to have changed him’
EVEN for someone who has chalked up so many milestones, yesterday carried a special resonance for Kilkenny manager Brian Cody. It was on November 16, 1998 – 20 years ago to the day – that he was officially appointed to the senior job.
Nobody, least of all the man himself, could have imagined the Golden Era that he would oversee. Hurling’s modern clock was about to be reset to BC – Before Cody. Everything else after that has been cast in a black and amber light.
Eleven All-Irelands later, and heading into his 21st season as manager, this story is far from written yet.
What made it all the more remarkable was that he came into the job very much unheralded, a low-key stint with his own James Stephens giving few clues as to the identity of the most successful manager of all time.
‘In stark, blunt terms you could say that my years as The Village manager had been a failure – certainly when it came to winning trophies – so there was no obvious reason why County Chairman John Healy or the rest of the Board would look in my direction. I hadn’t been involved with Kilkenny minors or Under-21s, nor had I ever been approached by any county – large or small – or indeed, by any other club.’
It’s hard to imagine now but Cody’s selection was a punt. Ireland in 1998 was a different country. The Good Friday Agreement had been signed. Westlife were formed by Louis Walsh. The Dublin coaching revolution was still years from becoming a think bubble above Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s head. Galway were crowned football champions.
Why Cody got the Kilkenny gig had a lot to do with the county’s humbling by Offaly in the All-Ireland final, the dramatic turnaround from the Leinster final enough to push Kevin Fennelly out the door after a tumultuous single season in charge.
The year ended with the launch of the euro as the punt ceased to be legal currency. Truly, a new era. What’s remarkable is that the years don’t seem to have changed him or allowed any sort of softthat ness for someone who retired as principal of St Patrick’s De La Salle in 2015. Just look at the brief interview he gave to Marty Morrissey in Sydney last weekend after Kilkenny lost out to Galway after a free-taking shoot-out for the Wild Geese Trophy, the first time inter-county hurling had come to Australia.
He wasn’t falling for Marty’s hard sell: the first two words of his response were typical of his no bull attitude.
‘Does this have a future, Brian, are you a fan of this?
‘Ah look… It was a prize for winning the league and for the team won the All-Ireland last year. Every player would be more than happy to avail of this. The important thing is that it was a competitive game, it wasn’t just a game the lads fitted into a holiday. The lads looked after themselves since they came here, prepared for the game. We’ve a few more days now to enjoy Sydney.’
His words made it clear that this was treated as no mere jolly.
Even on the other side of the world, his competitive spirit remained intact. That Kilkenny were invited is testament to another fine achievement: guiding a team clearly in the process of rebuilding from the Henry Shefflin-Tommy Walsh-JJ Delaney era of once-in-a-lifetime talent to a National League.
His time has also spawned another generation of sideline smarts. His on-field general – 10time All-Ireland Henry Shefflin – will patrol the sideline in tomorrow’s Leinster club semi-final as Ballyhale Shamrock take on Naomh Éanna. Eight-time All-Ireland winner Eddie Brennan has taken charge of Laois for the 2019 season. Former Kilkenny goalkeeper David Herity has taken his own first steps into senior county management by taking on Kildare.
Michael Kavanagh and Martin Comerford were part of the coaching ticket with Meath last season. The lessons learned on his watch will be applied for a long time to come.
And he still took the time in Australia to issue a stark warning to the GAA about elitism. Speaking on the Melbourne-based G’Day GAA podcast, he claimed that ‘the GAA and semi-professionalism can never go together’, said the elitist nature of the intercounty game could create ‘dangerous possibilities’ for the association and called for a complete overhaul of the fixtures calendar.
That the new round-robin format element to the hurling and football Championships brought club activity largely to a standstill this summer is a huge concern to him. ‘It is creating an elitism about county hurlers, the fact they are playing regularly during the summer months whereas the fellas sitting at home with the club, they are not even on the pitch. The pitches are empty so who are the hurlers in this place?
‘The guys who play for the intercounty team. That’s a dangerous precedent to be setting.
‘The inevitability of all that, if that were to continue, is they see themselves as inter-county players. The club, “sure I’ll play with them whenever I feel like it or sometime”. That creates dangerous possibilities for the association.
‘Semi-professionalism, professionalism and the GAA can never go together. Just can’t happen. People will argue it is there in some places, with, maybe, some managers.
‘It is certainly not there with me. It goes against everything the GAA stands for. I was at a preview [for the Wild Geese trophy] with Joe Canning and Pádraic Mannion, I was very happy to hear they were saying, very clearly, it can’t go to professional.’
For the most successful intercounty manager ever to be calling for the value of the club to be restored sends out an important message.
‘You play Walsh Cup, you play League, you play Championship. How about looking at the whole thing and going at it with a blank canvas?
‘Do we need all those competitions? Certainly, we don’t need those early-season competitions like the Walsh Cup.’
Twenty years on, the fire in him still burns just as bright.