LEINSTER SHC SEMI-FINAL:BRIAN CODY leaned back against the stone wall outside the dressingrooms in Tullamore. All around him, Kilkenny kids who had breached the security guards were seeking autographs. Out on the main field, players from both teams were surrounded by small armies of fans with paraphernalia that required a signature: if Henry Shefflin had stayed to sign every notebook and hurley whose owners stood waiting their turn, then he would have hit the shower room shortly after midnight. (Not that there was any fast train out of Tullamore. The exit roads were choc-a-block).

The Cats manager drank the scene in and his eyes widened in a rare show of surprise when he was asked about the 10-point run that his team had delivered in the second half. “You serious? That is genuine. That is good. The scores were a fierce quality – it was a terrific response. I didn’t realise it was a 10-point unanswered response. It was more a question of what we did when we were hanging in there.

“They were capable and they were serious, they were coming at us in waves there. Our panel was tested. They were tested in a big way. It was a tremendous win for us.”

From the early minutes of the match, when Joe Canning scored the opening goal of the match with that unique combination of power and grace, it was clear that Galway had turned up in ambitious mood. It is seldom that the vaunted black and amber defence chokes up 1-3 after just seven minutes of play.

Cody stood rooted to the sideline during that storming opening period and his demeanour didn’t change that much when Kilkenny started to motor either. He has, of course, been in these situations many times before but as he explained afterwards, a fleeting appreciation of what the game might be like as a spectacle occasionally takes hold of him even in the midst of managing. “It was a brilliant game – I would say so. Obviously, where I am it was just happening in front of me but it just felt like it was a powerful game – serious intensity, serious tackling, serious scores.

“Ah, it was brilliant, yeah. You could sense [in the first half that Kilkenny] needed a goal and they went at Galway, they took them on and took them on. Patience is vital because a five-point lead is nothing in hurling. Eight or nine points is nothing if you keep on hurling and do the basics well and believe in what you see in front of you. And you just grind it out. But both teams deserve credit because Galway were outstanding there.”

That Cody meant that was perfectly illustrated in the substitutions that he made over the course of the match. He chose liberally from Kilkenny’s glittering list of reserve hurlers. Derek Lyng, Seán Cummins, Richie Hogan and TJ Reid all came in during the decisive third quarter of the game when Kilkenny simply closed the door on Galway.

Cody paused when asked if the withdrawal of Eddie Brennan was predicated on the fact that the Ballycallan man was clearly not seeing eye to eye with referee Barry Kelly: player and official had several heated discussions.

“Mmmh . . . we have – you know, Richie Hogan is a hell of a player, TJ Reid is a hell of a player. And you just do things sometimes you don’t know why you are doing them you, just try things and we knew we had lads going in there who could do a good job. Eddie did a good job while he was there and he came off today but sure Eddie has been so brilliant for us since I don’t know when.”

John McIntyre stood outside the Galway dressingroom and offered a bittersweet summary of the match from a maroon perspective. He is hardly the first manager to experience defeat by this Kilkenny team: he won’t be the last. But this was a hugely restorative match for Galway hurling and there was a definitive sense that the new manager is shaping a different team.

“Any time you lose you are disappointed. That is what sport is about. I think that is the closest that any team ran Kilkenny in the last three years. I just think that Kilkenny’s composure and experience gave them an edge because we definitely had them on the ropes. I thought maybe a few of our players here and there took wrong options at the wrong time.

“We had a short puck-out strategy and it didn’t work in that the players who got the ball lost possession at crucial times. So we did find our men.

“I am very proud of the Galway players and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with them through whatever happens in the qualifiers. It was a noble effort and I am very proud of them.”

Over the wall, the traffic was bumper to bumper and on the field, the players still scribbled away. It was a memorable evening for the Leinster championship roadshow.