WHILE HIS FORMER club Celtic look to Jim McGuinness for guidance these days, Ireland manager Martin O’Neill has sought the advice of another great GAA manager in Brian Cody ahead of the upcoming Euro 2016 qualifier with Scotland.
O’Neill, a former Gaelic footballer with Derry’s minors, was a guest speaker at last night’s GAA Awards and took the opportunity to praise the record of the all-conquering Kilkenny hurling boss before admitting that he had requested a chat about Ireland’s game in Glasgow on 14 November.
“Can I just digress for a second to pay tribute to Mr Brian Cody sitting there in the front seat, who I just mentioned is probably the finest manager in the game,” said O’Neill.
“Really, really fantastic and his record is really unbelievable. I’ve already pigeoned him to have a chat with him later on to see if we can try and get a result against Scotland between us. He said he has got no interest whatsoever but he will talk to me for ten minutes. If that’s all he can spare, I’m happy to do so.”
Players are getting younger looking, Cody and I are getting older looking,” he later joked. “I don’t mind being photographed with Cody because I don’t look so bad! Except he just shows me all the medals he has won and I fade into insignificance again.”
O’Neill went on to pay tribute to inter-county players for their commitment to the game and credited his assistant Roy Keane for igniting his interest in hurling.
“I just wanted to say about the players and how the game has changed,” O’Neill added. “Watching the final between Kerry and Donegal, it is amazing that these are amateur players with the effort they put in. Sometimes they put our game to shame to be perfectly honest. The strength, the determination, the will-power, the desire and the skill is just amazing.
“I know that there are tactics now in the game that have evolved during the course of time that probably didn’t exist when I was growing up. Certainly I don’t remember Derry having any tactics other than Jim McKeever catching everything in midfield and playing balls into corner forwards.
“But overall the game has evolved. It’s a smashing game — love it. Roy Keane has really got me involved in the hurling now as well. Big time.”
(h/t: Independent.ie)
