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Hurling

hurling

Cody getting Kilkenny ready for new format

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody pictured at the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship launch.

Kilkenny manager Brian Cody pictured at the Leinster Senior Hurling Championship launch.

By Cian O'Connell

"If it's Championship it can't be diluted," is Kilkenny manager Brian Cody's assessment of the upcoming Leinster Hurling Championship which will be played on a round robin basis.

Significant intrigue surrounds the new format and Cody wants to have his Allianz Hurling League winners primed to secure further honours.

Kilkenny travel to Parnell Park for a May 13 opener against Pat Gilroy's Dublin in what promises to be an interesting encounter at the Donnycarney venue.

"Once it's a Leinster Championship match it's anything, but a dilution of anything," Cody adds about the structure. "It's absolutely hugely important."

Cody acknowledges that Kilkenny's preparation has differed compared to previous campaigns. With four matches in a busy five week spell the importance of recovery will be key according to Cody.

"The reality is that before you would prepare for the first match and train for the first match and you'd play the first match and then you'd go away and train for the next match," Cody says. 

"Now we don't do that because we can't. You train for the four matches now and you play the first match and then you recover and you play the next match, hopefully and you recover again. 

"So you don't train in between matches now in the Leinster Championship this year because you can't, there isn't time. 

"The recovery period after the first game is going to take three or four days and it's a question of getting out for a few pucks so there will be no physical contact or anything like that."