Gavin Cummiskey talks to Brian Cody about the perceived mini-crisis in Kilkenny hurling and his team's chances of retaining the All-Ireland title

Kilkenny's stumble at the start of this year's National League campaign, which saw them lose to Waterford and Galway, has denied them a unique place in the halls of hurling folklore. They cannot reclaim the title they have won for the last two years, so no treble-double for Brian Cody's side.

Crisis in the land of Black and Amber? Not really. Victory in the last three games of the campaign proved their mettle is still intact.

Against Dublin they won with nine points to spare. It was deemed in some quarters as a failure but Cody saw it differently. "We settled back into training after the Dublin game. People seemed to give the impression that we had lost. In fact, we won comfortably. Okay we didn't get a better points difference than Waterford but it's not about beating teams by X amount of scores. Dublin were full of drive and looked at that game to turn their season around."

The league makes little difference but it's just that Kilkenny had been winning the tight games, even at this time of year, for a while now. This season that changed until they met Clare last month. They came away from Cusack Park with a one-point win.

"At the end of the day we lost to Waterford and Galway by two or three points. There was very little between us. We have no sour grapes about missing the next stage. The only thing we will miss is playing an extra game, the final, if we were to get there.

"No excuses, but we didn't have much training done. I'm satisfied with our overall performances. I was very happy with the win over Clare. We had to get it and we did, in what was a very tight game."

Yet, the Kilkenny that showed up in the second half of last year's league final against Tipperary and then later in the summer is not evident at present.

"We are where we are," continued the ever-pragmatic Cody. "Last year we won our early games, but not by an awful lot."

The booby prize for finishing fourth in the league is a relegation round robin against Wexford, Antrim and Offaly, starting with Offaly this Sunday in Nowlan Park. DJ Carey has recovered from a damaged elbow but Henry Shefflin is still suffering from a shoulder problem.

Despite the Division One title being between five Munster sides and Galway, with the relegation play-offs being five from Leinster and Antrim, Cody refuses to sit with the belief that Leinster is a one-horse town and he's the sheriff.

"I've always said Offaly are a serious team with excellent development systems within the county, while Wexford are also a very good team. I don't hold the belief that there is only one team around Leinster. To say Kilkenny is very far ahead of the rest is incorrect. I believe it will be vicious to win Leinster this year."

Cody has always advocated that up to eight teams are capable of turning each other over on a given day. Not all are capable of winning an All-Ireland but they are dangerous nonetheless.

It would be folly to write off a team of Kilkenny's vast array of talent but other sides will be desperate to take their mantle and deny them the three-in-a-row. From Tipperary, Cork, Clare, Waterford and Limerick at least two genuine contenders will arise.

Championship preparation now goes into overdrive. The phoney war is over. The league has been an accurate gauge of the championship in recent years but Kilkenny will try to change that.

"Everyone is aware of each other's strength in the team," added Cody. "If we fail this year it won't be from lack of effort and most certainly not from lack of resolve. We are building for Wexford on June 13th. To keep the little things going will be very difficult."

Do that and the bigger issues will also fall into place.