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Published 14:04 23 Jul 2022 BST
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"Kilkenny hurling goes ahead," was what he said in his interview afterwards.We'd soon find out that with or without him was what he meant. [caption id="attachment_267892" align="alignnone" width="1300"]
17 July 2022; Kilkenny manager Brian Cody before the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final match between Kilkenny and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile[/caption]
Dreams by the Cranberries comes on over the tannoys then and, all of a sudden, as the party starts on the other side of the field, and with the evening thing turning green and white, you can see it yourself, things are gradually becoming that little bit more unbearable for Kilkenny people.
Nobody wants to be the hard-luck story at a celebration.
It's sportsmanship and it's courtesy to respect the captain's speech though, and as Declan Hannon praises them for their spirit and their fight, and as they stand back and applaud him, that exactly what they do. Hannon's words won't have changed a thing but it's still very clear at that moment, as he looks over to see Brian Cody standing alongside his selectors Comerford and McGarry, that the Limerick captain means every word of it.
There's a lot of Limerick in Kilkenny you see, and there's a lot of Kilkenny in Limerick.
Kilkenny had served their time now, now that the speech was over, and it was time to get out of here. But the players don't move a muscle and Cody doesn't move a muscle. Maybe it's a message to bottle this feeling or maybe there's no message at all but either way, as they hung on for for five minutes longer than necessary, you could sense something in the air.
"Whatever about Kilkenny staying out for the presentation," Limerick's Niall Moran said on The GAA Hour afterwards, "they showed the most dignified, respectful way of carrying themselves in the minutes thereafter, when all they wanted to do was crawl into a hole and feel sorry for themselves, and that was led by Cody.
"I was critical of him over what happened with Shefflin but you saw what happened yesterday, he led his men, and it wasn't until he saw fit to make his way off the pitch, that Kilkenny the players left too."
https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1548728956312068099
And that was how it all ended.
Cody threw his hand out and beckoned his players towards him, to follow him into the dressing room, and one by one, they followed the man that has led them for as long as they can remember.
It was mostly Limerick fans in the stadium at this stage and it was a credit to them when they stood up to give the Kilkenny players a standing ovation off the pitch.
Brian Cody was at the receiving end of that ovation. And that was how it was. The last time he walked down the Croke Park tunnel.
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