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In The Stand

'He’s going to make sure it doesn’t influence them' - Cody on Davy's Wexford sideline ban

The Kilkenny boss isn’t focused on the suspension facing his Wexford counterpart.

BRIAN CODY SAW his Kilkenny team taken down in the league in Nowlan Park in April, the first time Wexford had won a senior hurling encounter on Noreside in six decades.

He faced off against Davy Fitzgerald in that game but the Clare native will be banned from the sidelines if the counties meet in a championship rematch on Saturday 10 June.

pjimage Kilkenny boss Brian Cody and Wexford manager Davy Fitzgerald. INPHO INPHO

Wexford have a Leinster quarter-final assignment on 28 May and a victory there would propel them into a last four clash with reigning Leinster champions Kilkenny.

Cody didn’t reveal his views on the controversy surrounding Fitzgerald’s eight-week ban for an altercation with Tipperary players in the league semi-final, but doesn’t feel that it will affect Wexford’s championship preparations.

“I’m not answering the question at all because Davy has done a terrific job with Wexford, as he has done everywhere else as well. He’s an outstanding manager. People talk about the passion he brings, but he brings great hurling as well.

“He’s going to make sure it doesn’t influence them. He’ll deal with the situation he finds himself in and he will have everything ready, he’ll have the team ready.

Brian Cody Kilkenny hurling boss Brian Cody. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
“I’ve been on the line a long time and I never feel that I am in complete control on what happens on the field because it’s very difficult to communicate and everything else.

“I like being on the line, I absolutely do. Some people say you are better off up (in the stand), but I’d rather be on the line any day of the week.

“But if I weren’t on the line, would it be a huge difference for the players? I don’t think so because it’s not what you do on the day that decides what happens on match day, it’s what you do in your preparation.”

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The 11-time All-Ireland winning manager insists that he is not perturbed by any talk that their team are on the slide.

“The reality of it is we were written off before. We were beaten before, it was supposed to be the end of all sorts. Now the same thing is there again.

“Regardless, our challenge is to continue being competitive and it’s challenging. I don’t pay too much attention to it, it doesn’t matter to me in the slightest.

“The match is motivating, the challenge is motivating, there’s other teams out there, we have to play them. It’d be very strange if we weren’t motivated by that and that alone.

“What’s challenging more than anything else is the quality of the teams out there, I think the quality of so many teams is top class right now.”


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