DAVID Herity, the former Kilkenny goalkeeper, once told a story about how Brian Cody handled the dressing room, and the message he delivered, at half-time in the 2012 Leinster final.
Kilkenny were being hammered by Galway but Cody said that if anyone in the room didn’t believe they were going to win the second half, that they’d better head for the showers. Herity said he was nearly about to start rummaging in his bag for his shampoo until he realised the effect Cody had on the players.
Everyone around him was pumped up. The dynamic and the mindset was suddenly different from what it had been when Kilkenny entered that dressing room only moments earlier. Kilkenny didn’t win that game but they won the second half. And that’s where the road to winning that 2012 All-Ireland began, with Kilkenny coming through the backdoor to beat Galway in an All-Ireland final replay.
The background was completely different this year but, a decade on, and in his 24th season as Kilkenny manager, Cody was similarly able to inspire his players back to an All-Ireland final this year after one of the worst defeats of his tenure.
Kilkenny may have only lost to Wexford by four points but it was Kilkenny’s first Championship defeat to their neighbours and rivals in Nowlan Park in their history.
It was all the more disappointing again because it was effectively a knockout game; if Dublin had drawn with Galway in Pearse Stadium on that same evening, with Galway having already qualified for the Leinster final, Kilkennny would have been out of the Championship.
It was Kilkenny’s second defeat of the Championship. Nobody gave them any hope of winning an All-Ireland that evening but they rebounded off the ropes, defeating Galway and Clare before pushing Limerick to the absolute wire in the All-Ireland final.
Kilkenny only trailed Limerick by four points at half-time, when it could have been at least double that tally. When Limerick led by five points with time almost up, Kilkenny landed the last three scores of the match to give them a chance to knock Limerick out with the last play.
It was the same in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final when Kilkenny trailed Cork by six points with time almost up but they rattled off 1-3 to take the match to extra-time. Cody has instilled such pride in that jersey that Kilkenny almost can’t allow themselves to believe that they can be beaten.
When Cody finally bowed out of the inter-county game on Saturday afternoon, the way in which he did so was true to him and his way – low-key and loaded with the bottom-line of how creating an unbreakable spirit among his players was more important than anything he had won. It was his greatest legacy but it was also the very essence of Cody and the culture he created.
Everything about Cody was expressed through his teams and the way they played. Nothing ever changed, especially the same core values of an incredible spirit, togetherness and a savage work rate.
The power of that collective was honed and sharpened in Nowlan Park because everything he demanded from his players was cultivated and created in that environment.
The bond was unbreakable yet Cody managed those relationships from a distance, which added to his mystique. Affection was never a dynamic in his relationship with the players but Cody never played up to the common perception of him as ruthless. Big names were dropped and left off the team but Cody never believed that added up to ruthlessness.
Cody believed that instability was a source of power because the desperation to make the team when nobody really knew where they stood added to that collective force. Shaking up the team so often was his means of oiling that machine.
The machine was relentless but, while he never saw himself as an innovator or an original thinker about the game, Cody absolutely was. The team that won the five-in-a-row completely altered how the game was played with the template set in the 2006 All-Ireland final win against Cork.
He was never a fan of short puckouts or systems but the way in which Kilkenny adapted and reached this year’s All-Ireland final showed how Cody was willing to evolve to keep going.
He did but his core philosophy of management never changed. Sentiment or loyalty never clouded his thinking. It was his way or the highway. Like Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, no player ever took him on and won.
TJ Reid was on the verge of walking away after being dropped for the 2012 All-Ireland quarter-final until Henry Shefflin talked him around. If Shefflin hadn’t, one of the greatest players of all time might have assumed such a status. Another player could have crumbled but was Cody’s tough love the making of Reid?
Of course, there was another side to Cody too. In his autobiography, Eoin Larkin wrote of how Cody knew something wasn’t right with Larkin after a James Stephens training session.
Larkin was suffering from depression. When Cody rang the following morning, Larkin broke down. From that moment his recovery started. “I was in denial for a long time,” wrote Larkin. “And I might still be in denial only for Brian ringing me.”
Nobody ever saw that human touch because Cody’s public persona was so different. All the public saw was this imposing figure patrolling the sideline under the baseball cap, spitting into his hands, almost hurling every ball, hunting after it like the players he inspired.
The next challenge was all that ever mattered for Cody. His hunger and thirst for success remained insatiable. There have been some great GAA managers, 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 on his final day would have been his greatest achievement yet. But the way in which Kilkenny pushed Limerick as hard as they did was the ideal closing testament to Cody’s greatness.
In any case, Cody didn’t need any more titles to confirm that status. His name and legend are already secure in the pantheon.
