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Brian Cody speaking in Langton House Hotel last week. INPHO/Cathal Noonan
Speaking out

Brian Cody (Kilkenny) on...

The Cats boss talks about the challenge of preparing for a replay and current refereeing performances.

Coping with the challenge of a replay…
“It’s unusual. It’s not something that would have been factored into our preparations. If you’re in an All-Ireland semi-final you’d be thinking ‘oh, there’s another game to go’, and our physical trainer, Michael Dempsey, would be gearing everything to get it right for the final.

“Nobody would have factored in that you’d play the final, but then three weeks later you’d play the same match again. You just have to adapt. You sit down, discuss, plan, work out the best way forward and you realise very quickly that it’s still a game of hurling you want to play. I’m very much aware that going crazy training for those couple of weeks isn’t sensible. You’ve got to be clever about it.

Previous experiences to draw on…
“I’ve been involved with club draws but a replay there is usally played the following week. Three weeks seemed like a long time. It wasn’t on the radar. I’d be lying if I pretended we’d be keeping ourselves a small bit fresh for the replay.”

Importance of trainer Michael Dempsey now…
“He is very good at what he does. The players are obviously in great shape, it’s a matter of him just keeping them ticking over. The emphasis is on not getting them to do too much.

“The last couple of weeks coming up to any big game it’s the mental preparation. It’s a matter of lads getting their own heads right.”

Regaining focus after the draw…
“The All-Ireland weekend is a special weekend because you go up, you’re staying over and there are receptions. But then you’re not celebrating because there’s nothing to celebrate and there’s no big get-together of Kilkenny people because the job is not finished.

“You head home when you think you weren’t going home until the next day and you go to work the next day as usual. Life goes on. I’d always look at a match after being played. You’d go home and watch it a couple of times. You’d be stupid if you didn’t, but I believe the next day will take on a life of its own again.”

Barry Kelly during the drawn All-Ireland final. Pic: INPHO/Cathal Noonan.

Refereeing in the All-Ireland final…
“There was a lot of stuff coming out from GAA officials about the reaction to the All-Ireland semi-final, that suddenly the referee was almost given instructions on how to referee the game. I presume the referee picked is the outstanding referee in the country, to referee the top game.

“They picked Barry Kelly the last day but there seemed to be an agenda out  there with people telling him exactly how to referee the game. Amazing, given that everyone was raving about the quality of the games for the previous three years, and suddenly it was as if the referees of those games were being called into question in a major way.

“Barry Kelly refereed the  game the last day, it was fine, it’s James McGrath the next day and that’s fine. It’s their big day as well.”

Media elements tiring of Kilkenny’s success…
“It’d be hard to imagine that decent, honest-to-goodness people like yourselves would ever tire of people going out to do their best.

“It’s understandable in every sport that people like change – people were raving over Donegal and Mayo in the football final because it wasn’t Dublin or Kerry.

“That’s fine, that’s the reality of sport. People look for change and they think it’s progress when different teams come in. It isn’t too serious if certain sections of the media think that as long as the people concerned with all aspects of the game aren’t pressurised by that.”