Brian Cody leads Kilkenny into the new season hoping to further embellish the legacy of his history-making Cats. With the National League beginning, Eamonn O’Hara takes a look at the men at the helm of those sides hoping to challenge the Noresiders’ position at hurling’s top table...
BRIAN CODY - KILKENNY
The boss of bosses. Cody is embarking on his 11th season in charge. He is the longest serving manager in senior inter-county hurling. On November 16 last, Cody celebrated the 10th anniversary of his appointment. He did so having led Kilkenny to a first All-Ireland treble since 1913 and having watched the finest team performance the Championship final ever produced.
Cody will have drawn a firm line under that fabulous achievement and every stone will be uncovered again in an all-out effort to maintain the mighty Nore’s monopoly on the McCarthy Cup. This and nothing else is the objective once more and Kilkenny start this weekend’s competitive campaign short-odds favourites for the four-in-a-row.
If secured, that would rack up his seventh senior All-Ireland as manager. The challenge for their nearest rivals is to deliver competitive tests at the business end of the summer. The League and Leinster are dry runs really to what is the main game for the Cats, the All-Ireland.
Leinster could be more interesting this year than for many with Galway and Antrim in the competition, especially Galway, who believe they are close to offering the quality of challenge that shunned Kilkenny in the Championship a few years back.
Tipperary are rated the best of the others, Waterford are still there, but just how bad the damage caused to them by what Kilkenny inflicted in the 2008 final remains to be determined. Cork are in chaos, so Tipp, Galway, maybe Waterford. Cody will have his immense talent tuned pitch perfect for whoever it happens to be.
Arguably, he has crafted the greatest team of all time and is the greatest manager of all time. He isn’t finished yet and if the sliotar runs right for Kilkenny tomorrow, it will be the start of another extraordinary year with the ultimate goal to equal Cork’s record of four All-Irelands back-to-back. If achieved, then no-one would rule out the possibility of Cody staying on for a 12th season to try and set a new all-time high in senior championship hurling.
LIAM SHEEDY - TIPPERARY
He was appointed in the autumn of 2007. Sheedy’s first season suggests Tipperary may emerge as the main rival to Kilkenny’s domination of the All-Ireland Championship this summer. Won the Division One title and the Munster crown in his debut campaign.
It remains for Sheedy to bring forward a team to at least the All-Ireland final stage and then it can test that theory if, as expected, Kilkenny are there seeking a four in-a-row.
After the many positives of his first season, Sheedy (pictured) was unanimously reappointed to continue his work to try and win back the McCarthy Cup in ’09.
GERALD MCCARTHY - CORK
His third season, but what a mess he finds himself in the middle of. The internal rift that has split Cork hurling appears no closer to being resolved.
The 2008 panel are on strike.
They do not approve of the way McCarthy (insets, left) was reappointed for a another term and will not represent Cork while he is still manager. He has put his foot down, drawn up a squad from players and clubs supportive of him and who desire to wear the county jersey.
It could mean that Cork will not be strong enough to compete at Division One level or in the Championship, but it appears that they are now in rebuilding mode with a new crop of players with a galaxy of rebelling Allstar talents left on the outside to spectate.
ANTHONY DALY - DUBLIN
The ability of the Dublin County Board to secure Clare’s former
All-Ireland captain and manager was a massive fillip for hurling’s promotion.
Daly (insets, right) takes over the work Tommy Naughton committed so many years to.
He managed Clare from 2003 to ‘06, took Kilkenny to a replay in the Championship, pushed Cork to a point in an All-Ireland semi-final and to the same stage of the competition before losing to Kilkenny. He parted company with the Banner after the ‘06 Championship.
Last November he accepted the post of Dublin manager. It ended a spell in club management in Kerry and has heightened expectations in the county for a summer of progress.
MIKE MCNAMARA - CLARE
ThIS is the Sacriff man’s second year and the squad he is working with is one of the more settled, more experienced and strongest around. Last season’s League was a learning curve. Results were not that great and few expected the eruption the Munster Championship experienced when Clare took on champions Waterford in the quarter-finals.
Waterford were played off the park, beaten 2-26 to 0-23. McNamara’s first major impact had been delivered. Limerick were then knocked out. In the final, they gave Tipperary a good run for their money. With a number of key players back fit, including Tony Griffin, many expect the Banner to be even more troublesome to deal with in the coming weeks and months.
DAVY FITZGERALD - WATERFORD
Work in progress. Davy was not given too long to style Waterford’s side and the way he wants them to approach the game when brought in as successor in 2008 for Justin McCarthy.
His first term was brought to a sickening conclusion when Kilkenny massacred the Decies in the All-Ireland final.
The challenge and the occasion proved all too much for a team that arrived at the biggest game in town perhaps 12 months later than they should have.
Fitzgerald’s ability to heal the massive wounds inflicted will be examined this season.
JUSTIN MCCARTHY - LIMERICK
He did not stay away from the game too long. A poor season and heavy defeats in the Championship to Clare and Offaly brought about the departure of Richie Bennis. He did reapply for the post. Officials decided to look elsewhere after two and a half years. McCarthy (insets, centre) left Waterford after tremendous service, success in the League, in Munster, but the big trophy the county craved, the All-Ireland, eluded him. The luck didn’t run with them at key junctures in semi-finals with Kilkenny and Limerick. Waterford sought change and McCarthy time out before Limerick’s position became available.
JOHN MCINTYRE - GALWAY
If the performance of an under-strength team, the style, grit and passion produced last week in the Walsh Cup final against Kilkenny, is a good indicator of what influence he has had on matters already, Galway will pose quite an exciting threat this year.
originally from Tipperary, with whom he won an All-Ireland U21 as a player in 1981, he has brought former Galway great Joe Connolly in as part of his backroom team. Vastly experienced, this is McIntyre’s third spell in senior county management. He was in charge of Offaly in the mid-90s and again for a couple of years after being appointed in 2004.
