Brian Cody

Kilkenny legends Brian Cody and Henry Shefflin square off for the first time as managers on Sunday as the Cats travel to take on Galway in the Leinster ...

"We’ve seen Eoin and Adrian doing that for the club and now they have to transfer that into the heat of an inter-county championship battle. "You have to get the belief and the trust of the players. "In these tough games, they’re the lads that you want to see stand up. They might have one bad game but give them the opportunity to prove that they are willing to step up and learn from their performances. The same demands will be asked of the teams and the players." All of them mixed in is what you need to combine to get the best out of your team. Though ultimately it’s down to the players to take on the message and prove that they’re deserving of one of those first 15 places." "I’d imagine Henry Shefflin will have a lot of the same traits as Brian Cody has. "They both demand the best out of you," he told RTÉ Sport. "They demand that you give it your all. But Holden insists there’s no room to try a little tenderness when Leinster and All-Ireland titles are on the line. Henry Shefflin was the star forward on Cody’s greatest team, skippering Kilkenny to the first of their four All-Ireland wins in a row in 2007. Brian Cody won three All-Ireland titles as a defender with Kilkenny but his success on the sideline has made him a legend of the game.

What did you expect? Brian Cody and Henry Shefflin are not melodramatic people but for the last two decades they have lit many Irish summer afternoons with ...

But then, he was absorbing the facts of what was a tough defeat and afterwards he declined the invitation to analyse the post-match exchange. But the tricky stuff of time and old accomplishment – and future ambition – was at play as well. That is why we all play from a young age and it is a brilliant game. Pair the swirling emotions with the pressure of managing against Cody, the greatest influence on his hurling life and well: it was a few seconds that challenged even Shefflin’s heightened self-possession. For Shefflin, the break in play was a chance to place order on an understandable series of emotions which have little to do with sport. “Look, at the end of the day, it is a big game.

AN AFTERNOON OF high drama in Pearse Stadium. The much-awaited first showdown between Henry Shefflin and Brian Cody resulted in a barnstormer as the ...

Eoin Cody (Ballyhale Shamrocks) Pádraig Walsh (Tullaroan), 9. 10. Walter Walsh (Tullogher-Rosbercon), 11. Tom Monaghan (Craughwell), TJ Reid (Ballyhale Shamrocks), 15. 5. Michael Carey (Young Irelands), 6. Huw Lawlor (O’Loughlin Gaels) Paddy Deegan (O’Loughlin Gaels), 7. 2. Mikey Butler (O’Loughlin Gaels), 4. David Burke and Conor Cooney (free) added one either side of an Alan Murphy placed ball. Moments later, he was sent through by Concannon but was whistled for overcarrying after being held up by Huw Lawlor. The Cats slowly but surely got a foothold back in the game. On that occasion his stoppage-time was taken off him for taking too long and it led to Wexford forcing a dramatic draw.