When Galway claimed a dramatic and unexpected victory over Kilkenny in the 2022 Leinster hurling championship, it was a post-match incident which grabbed all of the headlines.
Henry Shefflin, the greatest hurler Kilkenny has ever produced, was in the midst of his first championship summer as Galway manager, and had masterminded a late win over his old mentor Brian Cody.
As the final whistle blew, a frenzy of photographers and media swirled around the pair to capture their post-match handshake. What we ultimately witnessed was a tense and cold wordless exchange between two giants of Kilkenny hurling.
Neither Shane Dowling nor Derek McGrath believed Galway's winning free should have been awarded #rtegaa pic.twitter.com/dgJEb0p0nD
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 1, 2022
The weeks which followed saw much discussion about the true feelings of both men, and many questioning whether Cody had been disrespectful to his counterpart.
Two years on, the dust has firmly settled, and Shefflin's former teammate Jackie Tyrrell has revisited the incident to give his thoughts on that controversial afternoon in Salthill.
READ HERE: Cork GAA Defend Wearing Red And Black Training Jerseys In Recent Fixtures
READ HERE: Sam Maguire Power Rankings: Gaelic Football's Top 10 After 5 Rounds Of The League
Kilkenny GAA: Jackie Tyrrell looks back on controversial Cody-Shefflin handshake
Jackie Tyrrell was a special guest on the BBC's GAA Social this week and was asked for his thoughts on the icy exchange between his former teammate and his former manager in 2022.
Tyrrell is also a clubmate of Cody's, and spoke at length of the coaching legend's tough methods in his 2017 autobiography 'The Warrior's Code.' Though that gives Tyrrell an insight into Cody's modus operandi, he nonetheless said this week he was left disappointed by the ex-Kilkenny manager's cold reception for his former player:
I feel it reflects poorly on Brian. I think he should have shaken Henry's hand.
I would be a Kilkenny man, a James Stephens man...would I go and train Galway? No. Henry did.
I could understand Brian's position on it, but I didn't like the way he didn't shake Henry's hand. Whether you like him or you don't like him, whether you've issues with him...shake the man's hand after all you've been through and all he's done for you.
Most intriguingly, when asked if he felt Brian Cody would do anything differently if he were to revisit that 2022 afternoon, Tyrrell was unequivocal:
[He would do] exactly the same thing.
Tyrrell went on to say that, in his time knowing him with both Kilkenny and James Stephens, he had never once been surprised by a decision that Cody had made.
Brian is a very simplistic man. Hurling, Kilkenny hurling, James Stephens hurling. He's a teacher and a principal, he's two boys that played with the club, and that's essentially his life. You won't see him in a bar in Kilkenny, you won't see him in a restaurant, you won't see him in the cinema. You might see him in the castle park for a walk. His life is that.
When Kilkenny and Galway met once more in that year's Leinster final, a slightly more graceful handshake was shared between Cody and Shefflin. That was perhaps something to do with the fact that Kilkenny were comfortable five-point winners.
Cody retired as Kilkenny manager at the end of that 2022 season, having led the Cats to the All-Ireland final. Shefflin remains as Galway manager, and is currently preparing his side for Sunday's Allianz League meeting with Dublin in Salthill.
SEE ALSO: GAA Stars Expected To Sign NFL Contracts Over Coming Weeks
