Brian Cody’s Kilkenny team are famed for their hunger, their drive and their insatiable will to succeed.
Kilkenny face neighbours Wexford in Wexford Park this Sunday in a Leinster Championship semi-final, and for the first time in many many years, they will be entering a Championship season as underdogs.
This is uncharted territory for the Cats. Cody’s men won’t be used to the marked lack of expectation that surrounds their season.
“For the first time in a long time, there’s little or nothing about Kilkenny, there’s not even a conversation about them being All-Ireland contenders. That probably suits the lads, I can imagine Brian and the lads down there, they’re not on the radar really, it sets them up going down to Wexford,” said Tyrrell at the Littlewoods Ireland launch of their All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship sponsorship.
This lack of expectation will undoubtedly provide the Cats with an added edge, an added fuel, as if it was really needed.
Kilkenny’s edge over other teams, according to Jackie Tyrrell, exists because of Brian Cody’s unique approach to training.
Tyrrell believes that Kilkenny’s training sessions over the last few weeks will have been full of intensity, with every player staking their claim for a starting berth in Wexford Park. That’s how it was in his time with a big game on the horizon.
“There was a lot of self-ambition and hunger there. Brian wouldn’t accept it if you didn’t bring a certain level of work-rate every day. You just wouldn’t be playing.”
The weight Cody places on training sessions was a key factor in Kilkenny’s success, with each player knowing that their form on the training field could catapult them into a starting spot, just like it did for Walter Walsh in 2012.
“You’ve seen so many examples. Even guys like Walter Walsh who came in, he wasn’t even on the panel four weeks before an All-Ireland. He came in, showed an appetite and a level of work-rate he brought to it and before you know it he’s playing in an All-Ireland final,” said Tyrrell.
“He does that and guys know that. Even if you feel you’re not going great or you’re not in the 26, you still know if you go out and show that for a consistent amount of time you could come from nowhere and make the team for big games. Brian’s ability to do that kept everyone on their toes and kept that high level of performance all the time,” said the James Stephens man.
This approach ensures that players are always hungry to impress, the intensity levels never drop.
“It was huge and Brian would always say, ‘The team will be picked over the next week. The team will be picked over the next three or four sessions. These are the important sessions for lads to put their hands up.’
This intensity was fostered by the in-house games, that were played at a Championship pace.
“Absolutely. It was all games. Two teams would be picked, Brian might take one team and a selector might take another team. It was literally like a proper game. It was up to you if you wanted to play and it was hell for leather.”
It makes so much sense.
Littlewoods Ireland style ambassador Jackie Tyrrell was at the launch of the Littlewoods Ireland sponsorship of the GAA Senior All-Ireland Hurling Championship to announce their #StyleOfPlay campaign will be following on from its introduction in the recent Littlewoods Ireland National Camogie Leagues.
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