GAA Discussion > Hurling Discussion

Kilkenny

(1/65) > >>

seafoid:
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/hurling/brian-cody-laughs-off-ger-loughnane-s-view-of-functional-kilkenny-1.2633587

Brian Cody lets a smile half-flicker as the name Ger Loughnane is tossed into the conversation. He knew it would come, he knew it must come. We’re in the Pearse Museum in Rathfarnham to launch the Leinster championships, 100 years to the day since the leader of the Rising was executed.

Since then, if you can fathom it, Cody has taken part in 29 championship campaigns as either a player or manager. It will take more than a few words of mischief from Mr Functional Beyond Belief to get Cody ducking and weaving.

“Well I just know how I take Ger – he’s a gas man!” Cody says. “And I enjoy Ger, and I know Ger a long time. And he’ll say whatever . . . he might just throw anything out there just for the sake of throwing it out. Also, he maybe believes what he says as well, and that’s his opinion.

Starting point
“It’s a good starting point for any team to be functional, I’d say. And if you ever lose that attribute, you’ll become dysfunctional very, very quickly. Look, I’d have not the slightest concern about what Ger said – at all.”
It’s our first time getting an audience with Cody since Loughnane’s bit of merriment on the GAA website a few weeks back so we try to pin him on it. Did he think that in a backhand kind of way, his old college friend might have been paying Kilkenny a compliment?

“Well, you see, I don’t know what he means by it. And again, if we were to concern ourselves with what all the various people say about us, you’d be working overtime trying to figure out why did he say this or who does he think he is?

“We just concentrate on what we’re doing, and that’s it. Ger knows that, and it’s for his fellow pundits and the media and everybody else to discuss the merits or the demerits of what he says . . .

Related Colin Ryan expecting another tough test from Waterford 
Shanahan urges GAA to share spoils with players
Westmeath convincing in seeing off disappointing Offaly



Second Captains

 

“Look, Ger is a very enjoyable fella. We’ll have a chat about it sometime, maybe he’ll tell me exactly how he thinks. But I wouldn’t think he ever tells anyone what he really thinks, anyway.”

Cody was in Thurles on Sunday for the league final, watching two teams that set themselves up to cancel each other out. It’s always a fool’s errand broaching this sort of thing with Cody – his default setting is to colour himself bemused, as though he were a philistine made to tag along to an outing in the Louvre.

Very tactical
“It was a game that was very tactical . . What I feel about both teams; both are terrifically skilful teams. They both have skilful players on the field; I think there were brilliant hurlers out there all the time. I suppose they cancel each other out to a large degree as well and there was a lot of traffic in the middle area of the field . .
“But look, that’s the way the game went and next Sunday will be interesting. Will they come up with the same thing again? Will they try something different? Both sets of management teams do think a lot about the way they play and that and it’s going to be very interesting to see what they do.

“That’s the prerogative for everybody in charge of each team; to come up with whatever way you want to play the game and it’s going to be very interesting to see what happens.”

And as for TJ Reid’s suggestion that Kilkenny might need a sweeper come summer?

“I must have a chat with TJ to see what he has in his mind there for that,” smiles Cody. “He’s a shrewd tactician I’d say alright.”

manfromdelmonte:
It's funny.
They invented the modern swamp defence with half  forwards dropping back to cover half backs, who then cover the full back line.

johnneycool:

--- Quote from: manfromdelmonte on May 04, 2016, 07:09:05 PM ---It's funny.
They invented the modern swamp defence with half  forwards dropping back to cover half backs, who then cover the full back line.

--- End quote ---

Exactly,
  Kilkenny developed the swamp defence and the spare are tackle, now they're talking nonsense when Waterford and Clare take it a step further.

seafoid:
Cody does savage put downs

“I must have a chat with TJ to see what he has in his mind there for that,” smiles Cody. “He’s a shrewd tactician I’d say alright.”

seafoid:
In an interview after the 2009 All-Ireland triumph against Tipperary, which made Kilkenny the first county in 65 years to record a four-in-a-row, Cody was asked – entirely reasonably – by RTÉ’s Marty Morrissey for his views on the controversial late penalty that had turned the match.

The Kilkenny manager replied that you’d be busy if you decided to readjudicate all of the frees in a match. There followed: “Did you think yourself it was a penalty, Marty?”
“I wasn’t too sure but it did seem a little bit dodgy in the replay.”
“I have no idea, Marty. Did you check all the other frees as well to see were they dodgy? [Uneasy laughter] Maybe you should. Maybe you should.”

“What did you think of the referee overall; do you think he allowed a lot to go?
“Marty, please, give me a break. The referee – we’re supposed to say nothing about referees and I make a habit of saying absolutely nothing about referees. Diarmuid Kirwan, I’m certain in my head was going out to be the very best he possibly could be. You seem to have had a problem with him. You tell me.”
What we can deduce from this is some striking double standards. When a controversial decision has benefited Kilkenny, Cody rigorously opts to say “absolutely nothing” about the referee beyond that he went out “to be the very best he possibly could be”.
When however the controversial call – and for the purposes of the argument I’m saying nothing about the merits of either refereeing decision – adversely affects Kilkenny, it’s alright to launch a swingeing public attack on the match official.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page