You wouldn’t expect Brian Cody to be pulling pints during the celebrations of a famous win, which is what Eddie Brennan did in Portlaoise on Sunday night.
Nevertheless there’s plenty of Cody’s method in his former goal machine Brennan’s management of Laois after transforming them into a team that defied all the odds to reach an All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipp this week.
Brennan, 40, let the players off the leash after the Joe McDonagh Cup final and, a week later, after an historic win against Dublin.
“I think you trust the players to know when to stop,” said veteran Joe Phelan. “You have to celebrate when you win, or what’s the point in winning.
“He could tell us, ‘Go home now and don’t drink’, but then there would probably be a few lads sneaking off.
“In fairness to him, he nearly led the celebrations at the weekend, he was singing, he was buying drink, even serving drink there at one stage I think later on in the night.
“He’s a fantastic character to have around the group.”
Phelan, 30, admits that the arrival of Brennan after last year’s championship “came out of nowhere” but the appointment of such a stellar name in the modern game gave a huge lift straight away.
“A big name,” he acknowledged. “We didn’t know who to expect, but brilliant.
“We didn’t know how good he was. We knew he had been with the Kilkenny under-21s the last few years and had done a fine job there.
“Look, he’s been absolutely brilliant for this group. He’s just brought that winning mentality and it’s sort of infectious, it’s spread throughout and it’s got stronger as the year has went on.
“He’s done a fantastic job.”
But of course Brennan has had to show a ruthless streak at times and there were plenty of players called into the panel but weren’t willing or weren’t able to give the commitment Brennan demanded.
“He has that presence, you think he’s always nearly watching you when you’re training,” smiled Phelan, who is revelling in Laois’ ascent having decided to give everything to hurl for his county after a three-year stint in Australia.
“If you’re not up to the standard he’ll call you out on it. He’s straight up, there’s no messing with Eddie.
“He’s just very big on the basic skills and getting those right. He’ll say it straight if you are up to it or not, and what you need to do.
“He’ll call us in and tell us to get our act together. But he puts the onus on the players as well to reach those standards ourselves.
“He doesn’t want to be shouting at us. He wants the players to bring it and in fairness 99 per cent of the time the players have really equipped themselves well, given their all in every training session and all of the matches.
“So he puts a lot of trust in the players.”
Brennan won eight All-Ireland’s under Cody’s watch. “I think he’s tried to mirror Cody in some ways,” said Phelan.
“There’s no hiding - like I said, he’s straight up. He has that presence, that Cody presence I suppose that people talk about - he’s watching everything and driving everything on.
“It’s just his mentality more than anything else, he’s just such a winner.
“I know he’s won so much as a player but he just has that winning attitude, and that’s what he spreads most among the players – that we can do this.
“If he says we can do it then everyone believes him”.
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