IN one of his Irish Examiner columns in May, former Dublin and Clare manager Anthony Daly wrote a piece about Brian Cody, which was titled ‘Is this Cody’s last stand?’
Daly was still gushing in his praise of Cody, as he always has been, rating him as the greatest GAA manager of all time, ahead of Mick O’Dwyer, Kevin Heffernan, Ger Loughnane, Jim Gavin, Sean Boylan, Cyril Farrell, Mickey Harte and all the other great managers.
Harte is still going but all the others eventually ran out of road, or, choose to get off the road.
“That question around how much road Brian has left ahead of him is a genuine one that even the great man must be contemplating,” wrote Daly.
“The question Cody will surely ask himself at the end of this year is, what will satisfy him heading into 2022? Winning this year’s All-Ireland would make that question irrelevant but I don’t see that happening.”
Despite all Cody has achieved, there has been a recurring theme widely and routinely spoken about since the last of Cody’s 11 All-Ireland titles as manager six years ago - to win another All-Ireland would be Cody’s greatest achievement yet.
Cody and Kilkenny didn’t manage that this year, losing last Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final to Cork after extra-time. Yet, it was another tribute to Cody’s greatness that he could get Kilkenny so close with a group of players that are at a different level to Kilkenny when they were in their pomp under Cody.
That’s not being dismissive of the players Cody now has at his disposal, but the huge cast of Hall of Fame players have moved on and Kilkenny no longer rule the hurling world with an iron fist.
And yet, Kilkenny still remain a dangerous and threatening presence because the culture and philosophy is as strong as ever under Cody. That was evident again last Sunday when Kilkenny trailed Cork by six points in the 65th minute, and were still three behind as the clock passed the allotted amount of injury-time.
“Kilkenny just have so much pride in that jersey that they almost can’t allow themselves to believe that they can be beaten,” wrote Daly in his column on Monday.
“If most teams were in that position they found themselves late on, they’d be beaten by 10 or 11 points. Not Kilkenny, especially when they’re managed by Cody.”
For Cody and Kilkenny, nothing ever changes. The culture and philosophy is as strong as ever. The last couple of years have shown how Cody and Kilkenny have kept evolving. And Cody is still searching for more, as all great leaders do.
Cody has always had that staunch belief that there will always be enough good hurlers in Kilkenny to challenge for All-Irelands. That will be tested now – as it clearly has been in the last few years – but the bigger question again is will Cody continue that search as manager?
Last winter, there was some whispering in the county, about whether Cody should stay or go. The timing of his departure would never be forced upon him, but the belief that Cody is the right man to build Kilkenny’s next All-Ireland winning team no longer appeared to be unanimous on the ground at the end of 2020.
Any similar whispers will have receded further after another Leinster title, which offered another illustration of the belief Cody has instilled in all his teams. The poor second half performances against Dublin and Waterford in last year’s Championship, when Kilkenny coughed up substantial leads - which would have been inconceivable for the vast majority of Cody’s time in charge – offered further proof of an improvement this year.
Would Kilkenny’s chances of winning the 2022 All-Ireland be any greater if somebody other than Cody was in charge? Given the players at Kilkenny’s disposal right now, it’s hard to see how that would be the case.
The questions will still always remain, as they invariably do when longevity intertwines so tightly around the greatness of one individual. Meath had already started to unravel in the final years of Sean Boylan but they have never recovered since Boylan departed in 2005 after 23 years in charge.
Kerry suffered a similar fate after Mick O’Dwyer’s departure in 1990 but that was more down to Kerry’s failure to replace such a golden generation, and manage that transition, as well as not harvesting as much underage success as they needed to when the Kingdom were gobbling up senior All-Irelands.
Kilkenny haven’t been as successful at underage as they would have liked – they haven’t won an All-Ireland U21/U20 title since 2008. But the likelihood of Kilkenny heading for the wilderness – as Kerry and Meath experienced, for a period at least – is less likely. Because the same core values of an unbreakable spirit, togetherness and a savage work rate that Cody has instilled have become so encrypted into Kilkenny’s DNA that they will endure, no matter who is in charge in the future.
It will be Cody’s own decision to go whenever he does decide to walk away, but, whenever that day does come, his legacy will be almost immeasurable.
This year’s Leinster title was Kilkenny’s 73rd provincial title and their 17th under Cody’s 23-year tenure. To put that number into greater context, Cody has now managed Kilkenny to nearly a quarter of the Leinster titles won in their entire history.
There have been some great GAA managers. Jim Gavin may have some claim to being called the greatest after guiding Dublin to the five-in-a-row in 2019. But, in the minds of the wider GAA public, Cody will always be the greatest.
No manager has won more All-Irelands. Leading Kilkenny to another title would be his sweetest yet but that may be beyond Cody at this stage, even if he does decide to keep going. In any case, Cody doesn’t need any more titles to confirm his greatness.
His name and legend are already firmly secure in the pantheon.
