Cody will decide on the future in his own time

The question of future commitment will always arise after a major championship defeat, but there was only the minimum of speculation on the future of Kilkenny hurling manager Brian Cody after Sunday's defeat to Galway.

While the fall of the All-Ireland champions will go down as the unrivalled shock of the championship, Cody has established such a firm position within the county management over the past three years his position looks assured for another year at least.

Yesterday, however, Cody was still uncertain about his plans. "I haven't thought about it today and I won't think about it tomorrow," he said. "Of course, I will be giving it some thought over the next few weeks and then I'll make that decision known to the county board."

According to county board secretary Pat Dunphy, the pressure on Cody to make a decision is non-existent, nor will they be expecting any definite decision until well into the autumn.

"We certainly don't want to put any pressure on Brian at this stage but if he wants to come back then the job is his," he said.

"Brian has been a great manager and has been great to work with and he's had some great results as well. It's easy to make a decision after a disappointment like this but he can take his time to think about it because he won't be put under any pressure."

Cody was originally given a two-year contract at the start of 1999, and that, not surprisingly, was renewed for another year after the All-Ireland success of last September. His championship record with Kilkenny has been hugely successful, winning nine of the 11 games where he was in control. The only other loss before Sunday was the 1999 final.

Like Cody, Dunphy wasn't making any excuses about the nature of Sunday's loss, even though it came against all expectations and form.

"I think it's fair to say that everything went right for Galway and everything went wrong for us, but on the day, of course, Galway deserved to win.

"It was just one of those games when Kilkenny never got going. They managed to crowd out our forwards very effectively and that made it one of those frustrating days. But when things are going right you have to enjoy it because there will always be days when things don't go right."

Wexford manager Tony Dempsey is taking a similar time-out to ponder his future. He was appointed on a year's contract at the start of the season but there is equal expectation in the county that he will continue for another year.

"On the whole, the feeling in Wexford is that this season was a success," says county PRO Alan Aherne, "especially in the way they bounced back from the Leinster final.

"The main reason they were able to turn that around was because Tony brought in so many younger players. He is seen as the man to carry that on now and I can't imagine how anybody will stand in the way when the position comes up for review at the next county board meeting."

Unlike Kilkenny, Wexford's interest in this summer's hurling is not over yet. Both the under-21 and the intermediate sides are still in their respective championships, with the under-21s in particular expected to come through Saturday's semi-final with Antrim.

"Of course we are expected to come through this," says Aherne, "but you don't want to get over-confident about these things.

The Wexford minors met Antrim in the quarter-finals three years ago and that was a very competitive game for 35 minutes, at least.

"Wexford managed to come out comfortable winners in the end but it was no cakewalk and we don't expect Saturday to be a total cakewalk either."