Don't pay too much attention to the threads after one bad result. No-one I have spoken to since Saturday has singled out Shefflin as the fault for defeat, they've laid the blame fairly on the players. In mitigation, the defence played decently enough, the problem was in midfield and forwards, where a number of players, in great form up to this, just didn't show up. They're not the first, or even worst, side for this to happen to this season. There's a huge amount of goodwill and hope towards Shefflin within Galway hurling circles all the time.
Donoghue left after a disagreement with the CB. O'Neill had a third year on his contract available I think, so not sure why he stepped away. There were no great rumblings of discontent last year, even though he got a lot wrong in his second season, team-conditioning in particular.
I have it on fair good authority that Cody never goes to the opposite manager to shake hands regardless of the result. They all have come to him in the past. If that is true then Shefflin should have known.
What IS silly is how quick the Galway folk, including players, turn on the manager. Just have a read if the Galway thread after the draw with Wexford and you'll see what they thought of Shefflin. Shane O'Neill was very close to defeating the great Limerick team and look what happened him. To say nothing about the treatment of M Donoghue.
John Kiely is an out and out Limerick man, managing his own county.
On that last point
Limerick bowed out of the 2017 championship in Kiely's first year with a tame 0-17 to 0-20 defeat to Kilkenny (who stank up Thurles a week later with a lousy performance v Waterford). The game was poor and in fact very similar to Galway match last sat, but here's the astonishing thing, 13 players who played for Limerick that night are now mainstays for this great Limerick side. If you told me that night Limerick would develop into the team they have, I'd have laughed at you.
Henry will be bitterly disapointed but Galway still have a core of really good players and 5 AI winning minor teams coming on stream. A forward line still including Whelan, Mannion and Conor Cooney along with Lee, Sean Mc Donagh and Liam Collins would be a very strong one in 2023. Also remember Kilkenny when they are really dogged can make teams look worse than they are. Cork will need to thread very carefully v Galway (assuming they avoid defeat in Belfast next week)
Oh agreed. But I just thought Henry looked all over the place. I couldn't see Sheedy, Kiely etc standing there motionless.
Cody's behaviour isn't good but he's definitely bossing their interaction.
Silly comment to make after one bad match. Taking over Kilkenny now would be no easier, judging by some of the posts here in recent times. Let the season play out fully and see where it lands. Henry, wisely IMHO, hasn't come in and changed things immediately, throwing out all previous players and starting with a new panel. He has to take stock of what he has and adjust accordingly, as time moves on. Imagine if John Kiely threw in the towel after his first season with Limerick?
Good question. We all know about Lohan and Fitz.
What is the background to the animosity between Kiely and Lohan?
John Kiely Brian Lohan did not shake hands after the munster final Kyle Hayes nearly knocked a young lad down after the match did not wont to sign autographs nothing about these two incidents anywhere yesterday. The stamping on Ritchie Reid Saturday night was the worst case of dirt i have seen in years.
Lbn -
Have to say as a neutral With equal respect for Galway Kilkenny Cody and Shefflin it was Cody who went down in my estimation after that. His team won. Why do that ……..
You have a great player like Henry. But to ascend to the Kilkenny managerial throne requires a certain political nous.
Henry seems to have made some poor choices and was ill prepared for the mental warfare Cody was going to bring. He didn't know whether to stay or go or which group of players to embrace. He didn't come across as strong and in control. Like a boy lost.
Many would dislike Cody's attitude towards Shefflin. In the same way, many were disgusted when Shefflin went to Galway, including those in his own club and community.
Cody could better handle his disappointment of Shefflin's refusal to join his team and subsequent joining the enemy. We'll never know exactly what went on in the lead up to Shefflin taking over Galway. It's a shame he didn't throw in his lot with the underage or squads in Kilkenny and then perhaps replace Cody. But that scenario looks dead in the water now.
I'm not sure I'd go as far as cruel but there has always been a callousness in him (I feel forged from him having been treated poorly as a player) that I have felt reflects badly on him. When we were winning people actually considered this a positive attribute "Cody makes the hard calls, is ruthless" etc.
But at end of day you are dealing with amateur sporstmen who are making monstrous personal commitments to play. That deserves respect and humility from a manager.
No one is suggesting a manager should be best buddies with his players but he should show them respect and sporting goodwill. He has shown none of that to Henry these last few weeks, and I think it reflects awfully on his reputation as a supposed "selfless sporting man".
Cody's reputation as essentially a straight shooting, hard but fair man with no ego or agendas, has taken a beating over last few years. A lot of people inside and oustide Kilkenny have reset their opinions of him.
The reaction of the players to Cody after the match, interviews etc doesn’t match up with the rumours. Hard to know what to believe
Did you see the stud marks on Richie Reid’s arms when he was lifting the cup.
A much improved display from the Wx match and better use of the ball. Eoin Murphy did well with his saves and short puckouts. However, if Galway had to take one of their goal chances and scored their frees, they would have won. Generally, I would see us around the same level as Galway.
Midfield is still an issue with any 2 out of Fogarty, Kenny, Browne, Maher, Murphy, Mullen, Leahy on any particular day. I would have Mullen in the forwards along with Cody and an aging TJ. After that it is any 3 out of P Walsh, Walter, Keoghan, Donnelly, Ryan, and Kenny/Leahy playing as forwards. A lot of players at a similar level but none of them free scoring forwards. If we managed to get Clare/Wx on a bad day, we could make the final but Clare's worst performance in their 5 matches has been better than our best performance in 6 matches. An honourable defeat is the best we might achieve. However, it might be better in the long run if we got well beaten and started building again under a new manager
Dear God, get a grip!!
Fully agree on your last sentence; I've been at All Ireland finals where kk players didn't celebrate half as much. Was very surprised seeing them down at the hill.
Kk were the better team and deserved the win. We were awful on the night and the game never caught fire. It was a weird game though and even more oddly I wasn't a bit disappointed we lost
Best of luck in the semi final. I'll be supporting all the Leinster teams - sick of the media love of all things Munster. Would be hilarious if three Leinster teams finish up in the semis
I'm not talking about after the match only. He looked lost during it.
No other manager would have achieved so much with his county as Shefflin did and then try to leave it all behind you.
Rumblings from the Kilkenny camp over the last weeks suggested that the players were very unhappy. Well Cody must have waved a magic wand as the players demonstrated great hunger and drive, and celebrated afterwards like it was their first Leinster title in years.
He certainly cannot be only realising that in hindsight. And again, Kilkenny is not a special case. There are countless examples of this already happening. Whatever he was mulling over in those moments after the final whistle it should not have been that. He might not have seen Cody's personal obnoxiousness and emotional psychopathy coming but his own reaction should have been sorted.
A mistake in the sense that he's plotting the downfall of his own friends and relations.
I don't the issue was that he realised he had made a "mistake". That suggests that going to a county outside is by definition a mistake. That would be hugely unfair to the people who coach teams outside their counties. Sure Kilkenny are not so insular as to think special rules apply to them. Shefflin is entitled to do as he wishes.
I would say his after-match stuff was pondering how he would deal with an emotionless megalomaniac after what happened in Salthill. So he stayed put on the sideline assuming winning would salve his mood somewhat and Cody might adhere to the accepted protocol of meeting the opposition manager on the sideline. Then in the end I'd say he approached the Kilkenny manager so as not to have no handshake at all. Judging by Shefflin's body language after that the comment from Cody was along the lines of "take that you c***."
I'd say at that moment not joining Cody's management team and instead leaving was hardly regarded as a mistake. More a narrow (and well compensated) escape I would say?
Shefflin should be driven to produce a team next year to bury Kilkenny and Cody once and for all.
Just to add to the Cody/Shefflin issue - Cody asked Shefflin to join his management team on two occasions. He refused and subsequently announced he was going to one of our main opponents, Galway. Cody is an out and out Kilkenny man as we all know. He would view Shefflin's move to Galway as disloyal to Kilkenny, to the current and former players, to his club Shamrocks - including his own relations , to the Ballyhale community and so on.
I wish Cody handled the situation better but I can understand his disgust with Shefflin. t
Watching Shefflin on the sideline during and after the match looked to me like there was a sudden dawning on him as to the mistake he made in going to Galway. He handled the whole after match very poorly, especially with not going over to his players immediately. And nice and all as his shaking hands with the Kilkenny players was, his place was in the Galway dressing rooms. He should have done the shaking hands on the pitch, even Cody did that much.
I feel Shefflin has a lot to learn. The question is, will he be allowed the time? Past history in Galway suggests not.
Strange world we’re living in that most of the talk amongst people after completing a Leinster three in a row is about a handshake. Since everyone else has an opinion on it mine is Henry stood still for several minutes so there was no way Cody (or any other manager) would walk down the line to shake hands with that manager. They would do what Cody did and wait for the opposition manager to compose themselves after defeat and then make their way over (like Shefflin did). Really nothing to see here but people love stirring up some controversy.
Shefflin on the sideline after the match, calling over Eoin Cody on the pitch to congratulate him and lurking in the tunnel waiting to shake hands with all the Kilkenny players looked very very confused. I wonder has the penny finally dropped with him that he has made a really poor decision in taking the Galway job? No turning back now Henry. You’ve made your uncomfortable bed now so you may lie in it for at least another two years. Unless he brings success to Galway he might struggle to manage Kilkenny anytime too soon, if ever.
I'd put it down to you not knowing or do I buy you can't say it hasn't been manipulated by rte especially J cantwell high lighted that today it's basically bate for anyone who have been waiting for years who are anti Cody it's there time now to bite and by god they will. So obvious. I respect Cody as a manager given shefflin the cold shoulder pure respect right there . He fears what shefflin has to offer . The smaller world will listen to RTE
Been a stubborn Kilkenny man all that is on his mind is his players maybe that's why Kilkenny put there hurling before what people want to see on the TV maybe that's why they've 36 just saying
The throwing really is a blight.
When i am training young lads I'm trying to show them the legal way, but I do wonder am I wasting my time as they can see the lads on tv getting away with it.
There are Bigger things in life.
the whole handshake thing is a load of bo**ox but looked like there was a pair of them with issues. Shefflin stood on the sideline and refused to budge for 5 mins glancing over. Pair of them should have shook hands before the game and got it over with. Hopefully that’s the end of it and never have to hear this nonsense again
Clare were not well beaten today as you predicted.
And hopefully hopefully you are wrong about the future for BC too.
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