Improvement on Brian Cody's agenda after Kilkenny earn provincial pride

Brian Cody is targeting improvement after his Kilkenny side beat Galway to earn a third Leinster Hurling title in a row.

But the initial emotion for the Kilkenny manager at Croke Park on Saturday was relief and pride after watching his side secure a 0-22 to 0-15 victory.

"To be Leinster champions is terrific honour and something we want to achieve and also you get to the All-Ireland semi-final," Cody told RTÉ Sport.

"So it's always relief and you're always just very happy when you win.

"But also I'd be very, very proud of the complete attitude of the players throughout the game from start to finish.

"They applied themselves magnificently, they were a real team from the whole point of view of attitude, spirit, honesty and workrate and they're the things you build on and that was top class."

The provincial decider win propels the Cats straight into the All-Ireland semi-final on 2 July with the opposition to be discovered at a later date. But regardless of the identity of their last-four opponents, Cody was adamant that a step-up would be required from Kilkenny.

We need your consent to load this comcast-player contentWe use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

"It's essential that you improve. That's the nature of championships," he said.

"What won a Leinster final for us won't win an All-Ireland semi-final for us. We've discovered that the last two years and in other years as well."

Citing the previous two years, he added that "it wasn't like we weren't competitive" during those semi-final defeats to Cork and Waterford.

"We still didn't finish the job off," Cody continued.

"So