Brian Cody won his first All-Ireland as Kilkenny manager in 2000.
In 2001, Kilkenny were defeated by a Eugene Cloonan inspired Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final and Brian Cody vowed that he’d never make the same mistake again.
His mistake? Not freshening things up since the year previous.
“The week after the match he said there would never be the same problem again and that if a decision had to be called he would call it,” said John Power, Kilkenny hurler from 1989 to 2004 to the Irish Independent in 2005.
Kilkenny surrendered meekly in 2001 and it cut Brian Cody deep. He’d been too loyal to the players that won him the Liam MacCarthy in 2000 and they began to feel comfortable in themselves.
Naturally, they became complacent and without knowing it, they ignored some of the things that made them very good in the first place and when you drop even just a fraction of those good things, you only become half the player you used to be.
Brian Cody stayed loyal to his promise. Never would a Kilkenny man rest on his laurels and get away with it again.
The Kilkenny and Dublin models
The Cats regained their All-Ireland title in 2002 and from there would win 10 of the next 14 available championships on a run of domination that has never been matched in the GAA’s history.
What did many of these Kilkenny teams have in common? Bolts from the blue in each passing one.
In Jackie Tyrrell’s book, The Warrior’s Code, the Village club man repeatedly referenced the standoff nature of Brian Cody’s management.
He found it crippling that you never knew where you stood with him, but also nodded that this doubt and worry was one of the main reasons he kept on coming back for more and remained hungry for so long.
This standoff tendency, one not to get too close with his players is a key part in these changes – because otherwise he might have found it harder to drop lads. Brian Cody never kept blind loyalties based on past successes.
The men who benefited from this? Anybody who impressed in training. Walter Walsh was famously catapulted in from Nowlan Park training sessions, Ger Aylward was a bolt from the blue another year, then came rabbits from the hat like Kevin Kelly, Liam Blanchfield, John Power and so on.
Many of these led to great successes directly. Walsh hit 1-3 in an All-Ireland final, Ger Aylward won an All-Star in his breakthrough year, John Power a goal against Tipp that turned the 2014 replay.
But think of the benefits they had on the other players, desperately trying to improve all year so that they wouldn’t be replaced. That’s what it’s all about.
The Dublin footballers are in hot pursuit of a fourth successive All-Ireland title. Jim Gavin has made a habit of introducing new players each year, from Con O’Callaghan to Eoin Murchan to Brian Howard. Paddy Andrews has been dropped this year without doing much wrong – the Dubs are kept on their toes, and everybody knows they must not only maintain, but improve.
Galway’s mistake
Micheal Donoghue was loyal to Galway’s 2017 heroes in 2018. One year on, goalie James Skehill was the only change in Galway’s 1-15 and even that was an enforced one.
Rather than being driven on by 29 years of hurt this time around, Galway’s men had a medal in their pocket and their hunger weaned. And with little or no changes on their team, or even their subs all year – Jason Flynn, Davy Glennon and Niall Burke have been the go-too subs for nearly three years no – where did they expect this hunger to come from?
Surely Jason Flynn deserved a chance to start at least one game in front of a struggling forward, take your pick from Joseph or Conor Cooney, Cathal Mannion.
Colm Parkinson and JJ Delaney assessed it on Monday’s GAA Hour.
“It’s so cut-throat. The loyalty is forgotten. Cody’s thinking for Kilkenny, not his relationship with these players,” said Colm Parkinson.
JJ Delaney has lived through this environment under Brian Cody. He summed it up perfectly.
“It’s very hard to do back to back,” says JJ Delaney.
“You win it one year, you think you’re doing all the right things the next trying to retain it, but you can’t do the same, you have to do more…When you win an All-Ireland, you’re up there to be knocked the following year,” he added.
“I can guarantee you, if you talk to the Galway lads, if they look back on this year gone, they’ll say honestly, ‘I could have done more.’ The year previous, they couldn’t have.
Winning the Liam McCarthy two years in-a-row is a massive challenge as @jjdel82 told The GAA Hour yesterday.
The GAA Hour Hurling Show w/ @paddypower pic.twitter.com/FODI5jYAN9
— The GAA Hour (@TheGAAHour) August 21, 2018
“Our hunger wasn’t blunted because we had to do more. We knew there was a couple of lads that were challenging you. It has to come from individual motivation, and you have to believe that he will drop you.
“You have to believe that you’re lucky to get that starting position, and if you don’t play well, 17 or 18 comes in, he’s going to take your spot for the whole year. You have to have that motivation,” said JJ.
Galway didn’t seem to have it, and the warning signs were there too. A goalpost prevented Clare from beating them, Kilkenny had enough chances to dump them out in Leinster.
“The writing was on the wall that the panel wasn’t as strong as it needed to be. Micheal Donoghue is now going to need to look for extra players to strengthen his squad,” concluded Damien Hayes.
Micheal Donoghue has some food for thought ahead of next year. The question is, does he have the players at his disposal? Time will tell.
John Kiely are you listening?
You can listen to The GAA Hour podcast, featuring analysis, interviews and much more from the All-Ireland final right here.
