Cody wants to lay down marker
O’SHAUGHNESSY: TREATY SHOULD EXPECT BATTLE
ANDREW O’SHAUGHNESSY reckons Brian Cody will be keen to lay down a marker as Limerick come to Nowlan Park on Sunday.
Kilkenny haven’t lost a home League game to the reigning All-ireland champions since Galway beat them in October 1987 and former Limerick star O’shaughnessy reckons they’ll be particularly anxious to stop John Kiely’s side in their tracks after their bright start to the League.
“I imagine every game Cody goes out he wants to set down some sort of marker,” he said, speaking at the launch of TG4’S Laochra Gael series in which he features.
“That’s why he has been around for so many years, because he drives his players all the time.
“It will be an interesting game, I imagine it will be a very physical game. The result shouldn’t influence later on in the Championship, but it might more be a moral victory for either team.”
The counties met in the last two Championship campaigns, with Kilkenny beating Limerick in a 2018 qualifier before turning the tables at the quarter-final stage last year.
O’shaughnessy continued: “The year they lost to Kilkenny in Nowlan Park, I thought they hurled particularly well but just lacked a little bit of awareness of when a score was needed or do the right thing, they were that bit raw.
“Last year then, especially after Richie Hogan’s goal, the response was to go straight down the field, Tom Morrissey getting that point.
“Even the awareness of the halfforward line to catch a ball, because in previous years Limerick haven’t been particular good in winning their own ball but the half-forward line last year were.
“This weekend will be an important game, of course it will. But they have the comfort of winning their first two matches so that gives them a bit of comfort and at the same time there is no relegation from Division 1A.
“I’d be more interested in the performance as opposed to the result.”
Given the 45-year gap to their previous All-ireland win, the way in which the Limerick players have taken last August’s success in their stride has been commended and O’shaughnessy credits Kiely for that.
“He probably doesn’t want to hear it but a lot of it is down to John Kiely and the way he manages his players,” he said.
“After every game, no matter what player spoke they stuck to the same message. Said it in different ways but it was coordinated. They’re extremely grounded.
“It’s great to see the Liam Maccarthy Cup going around and it hasn’t gone into a pub, especially coming from Limerick and all the bad press we got in previous years whether right or wrong about pubs and alcohol.
“That’s a fantastic thing. It’s nice to know they respect the cup that much.
“Rightly or wrongly, that’s what kids see. The things the team have done have influenced a whole new generation and hopefully we’ll see the fruits of that in the years to come.”