What Brian Cody actually thought about our line of questioning only he knows – Four goals conceded? None for yourselves? – yet he welcomed us back with a smile and even a laugh and the look of a man who made full and proper use of his brief spell of rest.
So how badly did he miss it, not being Kilkenny manager, especially when they win another league title without him on the sidelines?
“Ah ya of course you’d miss it alright,” he says. “At this time of year, the sun shining, and championship hurling, it’s a good place to be, being back on the line. But there’s nothing different about it. Just the same thing goes ahead. Life is grand, very, very enjoyable.”
Okay, although Cody can’t have enjoyed the look of the scoreboard after 20 minutes: Offaly 2-4; Kilkenny 0-5: “Obviously they hit us early with two goals and, you know, that puts a fair challenge in front of you. They were strong throughout the field, winning ball, and playing very, very well and playing strong hurling.
“We had to respond, but we responded well and went in at half-time only a point behind, and we started the second half very strongly, got some good scores, good points, got a bit of a lead up. And the game went on from there, and we came away with a decent win.
“I mean, we were playing a very, very good team out there. We expected a huge challenge and we got a huge challenge.”
What Ollie Baker, the Offaly manager, works into his own line of answering is the fact his team were given such little hope.
“Our team prepare as hard as Kilkenny and Tipperary and Cork do,” he says. “Sacrifice as much as every other team do. I wasn’t insulted, really, being written off beforehand. But it seemed the attitude was why bother turning up. That’s insulting to the commitment and sacrifice than these players have made since last November. They’ve out their lives on hold effectively.
“But them lads have serious passion for their hurling, and their county. And you see that down here at the club championship, so it’s no real surprise to me that they had that performance in them.”
If Offaly can build on this, hit their next opponents with as many goals as they hit Kilkenny with, then their summer run might extend a good bit yet.
“Yeah, I think, moving forward, the guys we have inside in our full-forward line are goal scorers. I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be going for goals every time you go in. Goals win matches, as they say. Four goals give you 12 points, and you’d want an awful lot of accurate shooting if you were going to get 12 points against Kilkenny, if you kept on going for it.
“ . . . But you would have to tremendously proud of our lads, they showed tremendous honesty out there and ran themselves into the ground. It was great to see a big crowd and a good championship match here.”
