In the 789 days that Brian Cody has been retired from managing Kilkenny, he has barely spoken publicly about his decision to bring down the curtain on a largely glittering 24 years. Until Wednesday morning that is. Launching the GAA’s Hurling Development Committee (HDC) of which he is a member, he spoke about bringing down the curtain on an era that produced 11 All-Ireland SHC titles, 18 Leinster championships and 10 Allianz Hurling Leagues.
Cody’s voice is a little softer these days but the dry wit that he could display when so inclined was on show in Croke Park’s suite 686. He's asked what convinced him to retire. “Check my birth cert maybe!” he offers quickly with a wry smile.
“I was enjoying it but I didn’t own the job. An opportunity was there for someone else to come in and take it on. So it was just a natural evolution of what happens. I suppose I spent longer there than most people.”
When he prepared to stop Limerick in the 2022 All-Ireland final, had he decided beforehand it would be his last dance?
“I knew at the time, yeah. It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction after a match. I was never going to announce it but my mind was pretty much made up.”
Kilkenny delivered the news for him, six days after Limerick completed the four-in-a-row. No, he wasn’t glad that they failed this year to go one step further than his great Kilkenny team in 2010. “Not in the slightest. I wouldn’t be thinking like that at all, They’re a super team. It’s obviously a very, very hard thing to do, and it should be a very hard thing to do.
“Clare are now the All-Ireland champions and all you can say is fair play to them. They were terrific and it was a brilliant All-Ireland final as well.”
Does he think new champions are good for hurling? “Not necessarily,” he responds with the shade of a wink. And, no, he says he hasn’t reflected on his long list of achievements. “Not even remotely. At the end of the day, I didn’t hit a ball in any of those matches. The players, that I was privileged to be involved with, won whatever they won.
“Obviously, you need a good set-up, the whole backroom, everything has to be good, but players go out and make those achievements for everybody.”
The 70-year-old has no regrets about handing over the baton, which was eventually taken on by his trusty midfielder and former selector Derek Lyng. “If I was going to miss it, I would have maybe tried to stay doing it but I think you move on and that’s it, really.”
By the time 2025 comes around, it will be 10 years since Kilkenny’s last Liam MacCarthy Cup success. Such gaps between All-Ireland success didn’t bother Cody.
“You never look on that. You look at, ‘Are you being competitive? How are you playing?’ You could go through the other strong hurling counties and start counting years as well. Kilkenny are not alone. It’s hard to win these things.
“Since Derek came in, we have been very competitive. They were barely beaten by Clare this year, who went on to win the All-Ireland final. Won a league and two Leinster finals as well.
“We are doing very well and that’s what we get on with. It’s easy to say you want to be successful, but to be successful you have to be competitive, and we are.”
What might worry Cody more right now is keeping his James Stephens side in the senior ranks. His club face Eoin Murphy-less Glenmore in a relegation play-off on October 5 and The Village’s manager agrees it’s one of the most important games for him and a club with a proud senior heritage.
“Every year that game happens for two clubs, in so many counties. Our game is an absolutely massive game. Everybody knows the consequences of not winning, for the two great clubs involved in it this year.”
Cody offered his considered opinion on wider hurling matters too. The inter-county season is too condensed, he says. “It is short, for sure. Short and snappy. A fella could get a fairly basic injury, roll an ankle or a hamstring, and miss three or four games. That could put an end to a fella’s championship for that year and that’s hugely disappointing, obviously.
“July is really, really early to have it over. It’s a big change for the people who were always so used to September. But the split season has panned out like that. Certainly, people need to sit down and discuss it, look at potential tweaks that can be done to it. Not a wholesale change but it can be tweaked here and there.”
Illegal handpasses are “an issue… for certain”, but he wonders about the legit ones that are often ruled wrongly. “I think that what happens now, unfortunately, is that there is so much talk about it and so much pressure on referees, that they are almost looking for an opportunity to give a free. When it is shown back then, maybe it transpires that actually it was a decent pass. That’s tough too.”
Cody isn’t totally convinced Conor O’Donovan’s proposal to hand-pass from the hand not holding the ball is required. “I’m not sure you need to go that far. Handpassing has always been an integral part of the game. It’s a vital skill. It has certainly changed over the years, from the point of whether they are definitely handpasses or not, but I don’t think penalising the player with the ball too much is a solution to it either.”
Hurling, he feels, is in a good place but is “struggling in certain areas”, one of the reasons he agreed to join the HDC. What’s in it for him, he’s asked?
“It’s spreading the game of hurling the love of hurling and giving the opportunity to all the people in the country and particularly the young children in the country the chance to play hurling.”
For the game’s greatest manager, there are few more noble pursuits.
Cody’s return to a more prominent role in the game is a significant development. It’s a sign that even the most successful of hurling managers never truly leaves the game. The man who led Kilkenny to unprecedented glory is now determined to see the game he loves thrive in new areas and ensure that every child in Ireland has the opportunity to play hurling. It’s a testament to his commitment to the game and a sign that, even in retirement, he’s still a driving force in the development of hurling. It’s a new chapter for Cody, one that sees him working to give back to the game and leave a lasting legacy that extends far beyond his time as Kilkenny manager.
