“I’ll be excited about if by any chance we were to win it,” Brian Cody says of his 17th All-Ireland final as Kilkenny hurling manager. “I’d be very excited, for sure.”
Cody being Cody, this is perfectly true to old form, the manager who never looks beyond the horizon and certainly does not back.
“Other than that I don’t feel particularly excited right now,” he adds. “I’m focused alright, very, very much focused, that’s my responsibility to make sure I am, and that I am for sure.
“It is more unexpected, for just about everybody it is. But I don’t feel any more excited about it, at all.”
Cody is holding court in a garden area of the Langton House Hotel in the heart of the Marble City, fielding questions on all things Kilkenny and Limerick hurling ahead of their All-Ireland final showdown the Sunday week.
Looking sprightly and fit – he turns 68 next Tuesday – the focus of many of those questions is on the different expectations around his team going into this final. Limerick are favourites: it’s their fourth appearance in the final in five seasons, missing out only in 2019 when they lost to Kilkenny in the semi-final. They’re also bidding for the All-Ireland three-in-a-row for the first time in their history, a feat last achieved by Kilkenny in 2008.
Still, Cody’s imperious record in previous All-Ireland finals hasn’t gone away: played in 16, won 11 lost five. Now in his 24th season as manager, he actually lost his first final and last final, in 1999 and 2019, Kilkenny’s last win coming back in 2015.
The impressive nature of Kilkenny’s win over Clare in last Saturday’s semi-final has left few in doubt they’ll certainly put it up to the All-Ireland champions: Cody is also reporting a mostly clean bill of health, critical given just the two-week turnover.
“Conor Fogarty was injured for the last day, he’s still not fully recovered so we just don’t know for certain how he’ll be. We’re hoping, he did a little bit of hurling at the weekend, so we’ll have to wait and see.”
What Kilkenny and Limerick both share about this All-Ireland countdown is the need to increasingly vigilant around Covid-19 given all the signs and warnings it’s still very much out there in the community.
“Oh God, it’s hugely important,” says Cody. “And it’s there again in abundance, if you like, and it’s a concern, and it’s a worry. Players have been massively vigilant up until this and absolutely will continue to be.
“This media event is happening outdoors just to ensure safety again for everybody. It would be absolutely a disaster for anybody from either Kilkenny or Limerick to have an issue with Covid coming up to the final, because that would be just too cruel for anybody.”
Cody hasn’t necessarily added any extra layers of precaution, though says it would be a “disaster” is players from either team were to test positive at this stage.
“No, we’ve been vigilant the whole time, to be fair. We have been very conscious of the whole thing, our doctor Dr Tadhg Crowley is a top man and he knows exactly the potential things to go wrong and the players are intelligent young lads.
“They have been very aware, they steer away from any stuff that is in any way going to inhibit their chances of being there for All-Ireland final day.
Cody was also asked about the appointment of Colm Lyons as All-Ireland final referee, the Cork native who has drawn some criticism from a Kilkenny and Limerick side of things in recent games.
“The reality is the players, managers, referees, they all make mistakes and honest mistakes are fine and you can’t do anything about that. It’s Kilkenny and Limerick’s All-Ireland final, it’s the players’ All-Ireland final but it’s also his All-Ireland final. He’s going out to perform to the maximum level of his ability and he’s going to go out with a proper agenda to represent himself obviously and the game the way it should be and that’s it.
“We all get excited on the sideline and during a game and you see something (and say) ‘Jees, that shouldn’t have been blown” or ‘that should have been blown’. That happens but at the end for the day you have to have massive respect for all the referees who are there because it’s not an easy position to be in.
“It won’t be easy for the players taking on each other but he is taking on everything, he has huge responsibility and a huge realisation that a decision from him could actually decide the game. So he’s going to be absolutely flat out to do his level best and that’s all anyone can ask for.”
Sunday week will be will be the first meeting between Kilkenny and Limerick in the final since 2007, which Kilkenny won handily 2-19 to 1-15. Prior to that, they hadn’t met in the final since 1974. Kilkenny were last in the final in 2019, losing to Tipperary, Cody’s team last winning the All-Ireland in 2015.
