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Kilkenny hurling boss Brian Cody confronts Dublin selector who intercepted his team's free in "completely bizarre" incident

Dublin selector Greg Kennedy is ordered off the pitch after intercepting a free which was being taken by Kilkenny's TJ Reid. Picture by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
Dublin selector Greg Kennedy is ordered off the pitch after intercepting a free which was being taken by Kilkenny's TJ Reid. Picture by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile Dublin selector Greg Kennedy is ordered off the pitch after intercepting a free which was being taken by Kilkenny's TJ Reid. Picture by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

KILKENNY hurling manager Brian Cody has described as "completely bizarre" and "unbelievable" an incident in which a Dublin GAA selector intercepted a free being taken by his team during Saturday's Leinster Championship clash.

The multiple All-Ireland winner said he had never seen such an occurrence in all his years on the sideline, after Greg Kennedy literally took matters into his own hands by catching the ball and preventing a goal chance as Kilkenny's TJ Reid was in the process of playing a pass to his team-mate.

Kennedy, a former All-Ireland finalist with Galway, was still on the pitch giving advice to Dublin players during a break in play shortly before half-time.

After catching the free - which was re-taken - Kennedy was ordered off the pitch by the referee Cathal McAllister but was not punished with a red card, much to Cody's fury, leading the Kilkenny boss to confront the Dublin selector on the sideline.

Kilkenny were trailing Dublin at the time of the incident, but later recovered to win by five points.

Dublin manager Mattie Kenny defended his selector amidst accusations of unsporting conduct, saying he had "just reacted" and had not intervened "deliberately".

"The whistle hadn't gone, he was going off the field. The ball was coming over his head, he told me it was just kind of a reaction thing," he said.

"Greg is a real top-class sports guy. He's very competitive but one thing about him, he wouldn't do anything like that deliberately and he assured me it was just a reaction."

Cody said after the game: "It was completely bizarre, an unbelievable thing to see...it was inexplicable...certainly unprecedented. So I wasn’t happy about it, no I wasn’t."

"I know Greg used to play corner-back but he brought it to a new level tonight," he added.