The two most successful hurling counties will clash in the Qualifiers this weekend and for Brian Cody it will bring back painful memories of his first season in charge of the Cats.
Cody has secured his place in GAA history as one of the best, if not the best, manager of all time and it looked as though 1999 was to be a winning start in the Kilkenny hot-seat, but Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s young guns didn’t read the script and left Croke Park as surprise winners.
It is a testament to the two men that they will again lead their respective counties into battle in the unfamiliar territory of the qualifiers, with Henry Shefflin the last remaining link from either side on the playing front.
While the ’90s has been generally accepted to be one of the most exciting decades the game of hurling has ever seen, the last showpiece of that decorated period didn’t follow that particular pattern, though the weather played a part as the rain came teaming down on Jones’ Road that afternoon in September.
The Rebels were given little chance of winning beforehand and it was easy to see why. JBM’s players were new to senior level – an average age of 22 is unlikely to be broken – and Cork had lost five of the last six finals to the Cats, who were still hurting after the previous year’s defeat to Offaly. And in DJ Carey they had perhaps the form forward of the year.
However, the game was a tight affair from the outset and became the first ever final not to witness a single goal. Cork’s young contingent went toe-to-toe with their opponents, with Sean Og O hAilpin demonstrating this better than most by keeping Carey scoreless.
In the second half Kilkenny seemed to struggle to put Cork away when on the front foot, hitting 13 wides after the interval. This spurred the Rebels on and in the final 10 minutes outscored Cody’s men by 0-05 to 0-1 with Joe Deane, Timmy McCarthy, Seanie McGrath, Alan Browne, Ben O’Connor, Kevin Browne and captain Mark Landers all chipping in on the scoreboard.
Henry Shefflin finished the game as top scorer, not a bad achievement for his first season in inter-county hurling and finished joint-top with Joe Deane for the overall championship.
For many in Kilkenny this was one game they can justifiably claim that slipped out of their grasp, something Cody himself has alluded to since then.
The two sides will clash in Thurles this Sunday and while both might not be quite at the level they were at in 1999, it promises to be yet another intriguing clash between two of the game’s greatest rivals.
