KILLINAN END - Tipp waste no time in filling manager void

Rarely has hurling’s managerial merry-go-round cranked up quite like it has this summer.

Perhaps the early championship and the split season when the clubs are about to get into full flight over the next few months has contributed to the amount of churn that has taken place, or at least its timing. Kieran Kingston departed Cork after a few years which occasionally threatened but ultimately delivered little of substance by the standards at which Cork are aiming. More unexpectedly Waterford now have a vacancy for manager, as do Dublin and Laois, and the most high-profile one of them all is in Kilkenny.

The manner of the exit of Brian Cody worked out well for all concerned. This situation had threatened to become messy as the team has struggled to get the results expected. Metaphorical knives had been sharpened nervously around Kilkenny for some time and it was not clear by any means that Brian Cody would get the choice to ride off into the sunset with deserved plaudits ringing in his ears. The unembellished facts of the matter would not have been in his favour. Since Kilkenny qualified for the 2016 All-Ireland Final, they have played some 29 games against what we might call the ‘modern powers’ of the game – for these purposes we suggest teams that have played in an All-Ireland semi-final since 2010. They have won just thirteen of these games. Take Dublin out of that equation and this changes to played 24 won 8. From another angle - on 16 occasions in the past six years Kilkenny have lined out against Limerick, Galway, Tipperary, Cork, Wexford, Waterford and not won. For the purposes of contrast, Cork, a team perpetually in crisis in recent years, have played 21 games against the same class of opponent and won 11 – a better record.

Chances are that much of this might have come home to roost in 2022. In that sense the most significant result of the last third of Cody’s career was the Leinster Final. This was the result which changed everything regarding the manner of his exit. Had that been lost, the next game was what would have been an awkward quarter-final against a Cork team which had beaten Kilkenny last year, and a potential semi-final against Limerick. The nostrils would have dilated furiously by the Nore had circumstances been even slightly different. Cody was lucky in that sense. Yet, credit is due for getting his team over the line against Galway and against Clare given the Wexford performance in Nowlan Park.

It has often been said in praise of Kilkenny that they always ‘show up’. It is no small matter. For all the talk of style-changes and adaption to playing ‘through the lines’ in the last couple of games it remains intensity and competitiveness that kept Kilkenny going. The ability of the manager to communicate this to a group of players most especially when, as the figures bear out, not everything had gone according to plan in recent years, is a remarkable quality.

The identity of the next Kilkenny manager is not yet clear though Derek Lyng is mentioned by many as a likely candidate. Not only has he selectorial experience with the Senior team but also managed their Under-20s. The assumption is that they will appoint internally but who knows? Could the lure of Davy Fitzgerald or Derek McGrath prove too tempting?

They will hardly fill the manager’s seat as quickly as our own county did. Was it the right decision? Again, let’s look at the evidence. When the county last failed to win a game in 2018 there was a case to be made that the team was a little unlucky. A comeback against Cork showed spirit, and a Clare team which went close to an All-Ireland Final that year was beaten in Thurles. Even allowing for the dodgy goal they came from six points and a man down at half-time to salvage a draw against Waterford.

Chinks of positivity were fewer and further apart in 2022. The performance against Waterford can now be measured against that county’s subsequent travails and hasn’t aged well. The wide-open defence against Clare was but a foreshadow of what was to come against Cork. What optimism could be gleaned relates to individual players and progress among the younger players in particular.

There is the bones of a good team there – the question was if the existing management could deliver on that potential. Unfortunately, the evidence of the year suggested not. It is true that the phrase “relieved of his duties” in the official announcement of the manager’s departure, while probably designed to be subtle, did seem a little smug in the reading. All the more so given that such a decision is bound to be a deeply personal and heartfelt one for the person who is leaving. Yet, to say it is the wrong decision is quite a different matter. Only time will tell on that.