Eoin Cody keen to end Kilkenny's nine-year wait for glory

Nine years without an All-Ireland title might not be a problem for a lot of counties, but when you've won more in your code than anyone else as Kilkenny have managed, it's tantamount to a catastrophe.

Kilkenny's most recent senior hurling championship came in 2015, the last of Brian Cody’s 11 titles. Despite four visits to the final since, their wait for a 37th crown goes on.

Anyone expecting panic around Nowlan Park will be left waiting. The Black and Amber captain for 2023, Eoin Cody, picked up his first All-Star gong earlier this month and, nice and all as that was, he’s confident his team-mates know exactly what’s required of them heading into 2024.

"If there was only one player out on the pitch, the goal in Kilkenny will always be to win an All-Ireland," Cody told RTÉ Sport this week. "If that’s not your goal as a Kilkenny man, there’s no point in going out playing. You hurl to win and in Kilkenny we hurl to win All-Irelands.

"It hasn’t happened since 2015, but the hunger and work ethic is as strong as ever. We fully believe in ourselves and we fully know we’re capable of doing it. There’s challenges along the way.

"In hurling, on any given day, there’s a winner and a loser but we’ll do all we can to be on the winning side and we’ll take it game by game again this year."

In the nine years since beating Galway by four points in that 2015 decider, the Cats panel has taken on a progressively more youthful look as one stalwart after the next hung up his hurl. Although TJ Reid, scorer of 1-07 against the Tribe nine years ago, continues to defy age and conventional wisdom by performing as unerringly as ever in his 37th year.

While the current panel are high on vigour, enthusiasm and fresh legs – they’re low on one key ingredient