Kilkenny manager Brian Cody.
By Cian O’Connell
Remarkable and relentless, Brian Cody has ventured down this road before. A 15th All Ireland final appearance in 18 years beckons, Liam McCarthy has been raised by a striped jersey on 11 occasions under Cody’s watch.
Fifteen Leinster Championships and eight Allianz Hurling Leagues are also part of the collection, but the journey still captivates Cody.
The level of enjoyment remains the same as way back in 1999. “Yeah, I mean, look it, it's not stressful,” Cody replies. People can say, 'It's easy to say that'. I don't have to do this like.
“This is not something that I have to do or stay doing, whatever it is, it's my choice. If I choose to do something with my life that's going to be a terrible sort of negative thing for me or stressful thing for me, I wouldn't be very clever and I'm not that stupid.
“So I do it because I enjoy doing it and to be involved at this level at this part of the year coming up to the All-Ireland final, it's a grand thing to be involved with.
“We'll carry on and I'll be involved in my club as well. It's my sport and the sport I'm involved with, but I just carry on as normal. It's a very, very normal part of my life and that's it.”
So that is precisely why Cody gleefully celebrated a stirring All Ireland SHC Semi-Final replay success over Waterford on a wild and exciting night in Thurles. “The reason I was satisfied was because we had just won an epic battle and the prize was, I kept saying it the whole time, there was no trophy but a massive prize – we're in the All-Ireland final.
“That's satisfying. We had to play really, really well to win that game because our opposition played really, really well. The feeling at the end then at the final whistle, it's one way or the other and that night was satisfying for sure.”
Tactics and systems dominate the hurling agenda at the moment, but have Tipperary altered their approach under Michael Ryan? “Again, I don't know because they have been brilliant for a long number of years now,” is Cody’s assessment.
Kilkenny manager Brian Cody.
“Again, what do you see when you see Tipperary? You just see brilliant hurlers, there's some different personnel in there than there had been for a few years.
“Some great players they had have gone as well but the skill level is serious. They have everything that's required in a team, everything that's required. Michael Ryan obviously brings his own stamp on a team. What is that? He knows, they know, we're not privy to what goes on in there. How good are they? They're excellent, I'd say.”
How Kilkenny ‘upped the performance’ for the Waterford replay offers Cody encouragement. “I do think we were better,” Cody admits. “We weren't caught unawares the first day. Absolutely not. Did we underestimate Waterford? Not a hope in hell did we underestimate Waterford. The quality, I spoke about it honestly, and I was right by saying they are brilliant hurlers. Everyday the game happens, you look at sport, every sport in the world do you always go out to perform the way you think you are going to perform or the way you want to perform? No you don't.
“Our lads, we couldn't say we were completely off the mark the first day because we drew the game against a very good team playing very well. So we were in the game and we dug it out and all the rest of it, but we did up our performance in the replay. I'd say we played a better game.
“We played better hurling in lots of ways. Did we learn from the first day? I think you have to learn, we had to learn. If we didn't learn we wouldn't have won the replay.”
In 2009, 2011, and 2014 Kilkenny defeated Tipperary in All Ireland finals, while the Cats also registered Championship triumphs in 2012 and 2013. Does that carry any relevance this weekend? “Ah look, obviously we’ve met in some very, very high profile games. I don’t even stop to think, I couldn’t even rattle off now what years they were, or whatever it is, I just don’t know. If I stopped to think about it, I could figure it out I’m sure.
“But, it’s in the past, it’s done and dusted. Does it have any influence on what will happen the next day, absolutely not. If you like you can say it gives them a greater drive, I don’t think it does, because the drive to win an All-Ireland final is there anyway.
“I would never think we have any kind of an advantage on them at all. I just think they are a terrific team. If you want to - very often people make comparisons of how you play against different teams.
"We have spoken about ourselves and Waterford and you reflect what happened on Tipperary and Waterford and you’d wonder, my goodness, and that’s not going to have a bearing on the game either. The game will take on a life of its own.”
