Eoin Cody hoping to reap benefits of strong pre-season

Preparing for the beginning of the Allianz League is not something Eoin Cody has become accustomed to over the last few seasons.

The lively attacker has been part of a Shamrocks team that has claimed five of the last six Kilkenny senior hurling club titles including All-Ireland wins in 2019, 2020 and 2023.

Cody made his debut for the senior Kilkenny side during the 2020 National League but as a result of his club’s exploits, it’s been long years for him ever since.

Last October’s County Final defeat to O’Loughlin Gaels was far from ideal but it did give Cody a chance to go through a first proper pre-season with Kilkenny.

“It’s been a unique opportunity for us Ballyhale players in general to be back and get those extra few weeks and months of hard training.

“Obviously as much as I’d have loved to be in O’Loughlins position over the last few months, it’s been different and that’s sports you can’t win everything.

“I’ve loved the off-season though as it’s been a different challenge in really pushing myself physically and mentally on the pitch which will hopefully have long-term benefits for my fitness and strength.

“As a result it’s been enjoyable to be around the squad the last two months.”

The dual young hurler of the year had the honour of captaining the team last season and all the expectation that comes with leading the Kilkenny team.

After a disappointing 2022 in his own words, the Shamrocks star admits being captain drove him on to rediscover a bit of form.

“At the start of the year I wanted to get going as I wasn’t too happy with how I performed a year previous and I felt I let myself and team down a small bit in 2022,” Cody added when speaking at a launch by Avonmore owner Tirlán to reaffirm sponsorship commitments to Kilkenny GAA for the 2024 season.

“Being captain probably added a bit of pressure that I needed to perform more to the levels that I knew I was capable of reaching.

“When the championship got going, I probably wasn’t too happy with the Westmeath game but I’d a good game against Galway in Nowlan Park and I really got confidence from it to push on for the rest of the season.”

The 24 year-old SETU Carlow student is part of a sizeable crop of players that are chasing a first All-Ireland senior title with the county and the ambition to right that wrong still burns brightly for Cody.

“Getting so close and not succeeding, it hurts and hurt drives and motivates you to do better.

“I’ve been there the last four years and we’ve been unlucky in two semi-finals and two finals and when you get so close, the hunger only grows.

“We haven’t won one since 2015 and there’s lads there that are in their late 20’s that have yet to win an All-Ireland but they are the ones that are driving the standards on the pitch.

“Between the squad and management, the ambition is there to go one step further.”

Limerick have been the Cats conquerors in each of the last two All-Ireland deciders and Cody sums up what it’s like going up against a team that will be aiming for the historic five-in-a row later in the year.

“Like any good team, when they get on top they can really punish you and that’s what happened last year, they sunk us really.

“That’s the sign of a good team and that’s where we’re trying to get to but they’ve won and when you get that winning mentality like we had in Ballyhale it really helps.

“They know how to win and it’s hard to beat that as you need things to go your way and they are a tremendous team.

“We take nothing away from them and they trimmed us in the league final too and we’ve probably felt the effects of not playing more league games against them.

“The Munster teams play them a little bit more and they get used to it but we feel like we’ve learnt a lot from the defeats at the same time.”

The Shannonsiders are in the opposite Allianz League group to the Cats though so they won’t be on Kilkenny’s radar for at least a few weeks and despite the merits of the league being questioned recently, the 2023 Kilkenny captain is relishing the challenge.

“We probably haven’t had as tough a group in the league as we do this year so it’s great that we have three tough away games against the Munster teams.

“We also have Wexford and Offaly at home which will be tough battles and all the games will allow us to improve as a team so we are looking forward to it.

“The inter-county game is of a higher standard than the club so you need a few games to get up to the physicality and intensity of it all and hopefully we can improve our hurling over the next few weeks.”