“Cody was saying: ‘Lads, you have to wait three weeks to play in an All-Ireland final. Think about it, go back to when you were a young lad, you’d wait three months, you’d wait three years, you’d wait 30 years for the chance to play in an All-Ireland final for Kilkenny in front of 80,000 people. This is what you dreamed of. You’re going back training with the lads, you’re going to have great craic now for the next three weeks.
“So we went into the meeting feeling sorry for ourselves and we came out thinking we were the luckiest lads in the world — thank God Barry Kelly blew Jackie (Tyrrell) for that free! People ask: ‘How has he never had a psychologist with Kilkenny?’ Sure, he was a psychologist.”
At the GAA national coaching conference earlier this year, Tommy Walsh provided superb insight into what had made Brian Cody the greatest.
That 2012 All-Ireland final draw with Galway had been interpreted as a loss by the Kilkenny players but not their manager and come the replay they were a juggernaut.
Just one replay defeat in 20 Championships is a remarkable record that Galway will surely challenge in Thurles on Sunday.
The law of averages might be against Kilkenny but then they might argue theirs is the stronger commandment based on Cody’s ability to get it right second time around:
2016 All-Ireland semi-final replay, beat Waterford 2-19 to 2-17
Colin Fennelly had given Kilkenny an electric start with a couple of goals inside the first 10 minutes but Waterford found the net via Austin Gleeson and Jamie Barron. Nevertheless, the Cats retained their half-time lead throughout the second half despite failing to score for 18 minutes. Waterford cut the margin to one point in additional time but scores from Walter Walsh and Conor Fogarty gave them a cushion.
3.
2014 All-Ireland final replay, beat Tipperary 2-17 to 2-14
A day for the Kilkenny defence as they restricted the Tipperary forwards to just 2-4 from play, the goals coming from Seamus Callanan.
Second-half goals from the Power brothers, Richie and John, and Kilkenny’s five unanswered points just after the break sent Kilkenny towards another All-Ireland success that had more to do with graft and grunt than anything particularly spectacular.
3.
2014 Leinster semi-final replay, beat Galway 3-19 to 1-17
Six days after Galway emulated their goal haul of nine years previous and struck five past Kilkenny, Cody’s side were much more assertive.
This was the beginning of Fogarty’s Kilkenny career in midfield and he was impressive, as was Brian Hogan having been given back the No. 6 jersey. TJ Reid posted 2-11, all from frees, with Aidan Fogarty grabbing the other goal.
5.
2013 Leinster semi-final replay, lost to Dublin 0-16 to 1-16
Much like last Sunday, Reid was the saviour with a last-gasp point but on returning to O’Moore Park, where the crowd was surprisingly up on the previous week, Kilkenny rued the absence of injured Paul Murphy.
Dublin claimed their first Championship win over Kilkenny since 1942 largely due to a second-half goal from Danny Sutcliffe. Anthony Daly’s side never went behind in the game and their ferocity wasn’t matched by their opponents, who managed just four points from play.
3.
2012 All-Ireland final replay, beat Galway 3-22 to 3-11
But for Henry Shefflin, the Cats might not have had this opportunity.
If he was giving a virtuoso performance in the second half of the drawn game, he was joined by more members of the orchestra here as Galway were put to the sword.
After losing the Leinster final to Galway by 10 points, this was the sweetest turnaround for Cody and his crew. Defenders returned to their more familiar positions and they bossed their areas. Cyril Donnellan had a goal ruled out because of James McGrath’s earlier blown whistle for a Galway free but there was no denying Kilkenny’s force as Richie Power, Colin Fennelly, and bolter Walter Walsh found the net.
3.
2004 All-Ireland quarter-final replay, beat Clare 1-11 to 0-9
Shefflin’s eye injury threatened to take away from this win in Thurles, which had seen Kilkenny eventually unlock the sweeper safe Daly had put on his Clare rearguard.
The positioning of Alan Markham had caused the Cats difficulty in both games but they had more understanding of his role the second time around, mirrored it at the other end with Michael Kavanagh and were able to vary their attacks more so as to avoid Markham. In another gritty contest where Kilkenny hit a multitude of wides they engineered enough chances to claim the win.
3.