IT’S SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL ON THE REMATCH...
NOT since Mick McCarthy made a desperate lunge to grab his captain’s hand following Roy Keane’s monumental performance against the Dutch in 2001 has a handshake been so deeply analysed in Irish sport. During The Sunday Game, it was almost shown frame by frame, so you could see every nuance and facial tic. Brian Cody has never been the most magnanimous loser. It is what makes him such a winner. And losing to Galway, those interlopers who gate-crashed the Leinster party, seems to hurt him even more. Throughout his managerial career with Kilkenny, he’s always found the Tribesmen a bit of a headscratcher. So, we’re guessing when his most trusted of all onfield lieutenants upped sticks and headed west (after apparently turning down an opportunity to join Kilkenny’s backroom), it might have not sat too well with the Cats boss. Cody would have targeted victory in Pearse Stadium, which would also serve as a reminder to Henry Shefflin of what he has left behind. Add the circumstances of the defeat into the mix — even if it was a clear foul on Tom Monaghan for the lastminute free — and Cody’s reaction becomes a little more understandable. There was a sense prior to last week’s showdown that both men were keen to avoid making it all about them. But it was impossible to avoid the master and apprentice theme. Even more so now with that icy handshake and Cody keeping his grip that little bit too long. Dublin may yet throw a spanner in the works, but the Leinster hurling final is already looking like one of the most hotly-anticipated games of the summer, simply because the sub-plot on the sideline will be so loaded with drama and intrigue,