In all likelihood, Brian Cody will put his name forward as Kilkenny manager for a 24th season later this year and it will be ratified without dissent.
It would see him overtake Sean Boylan’s tenure with Meath footballers, the longest in inter-county management in modern times.
The closing years of Boylan’s reign were dogged by demoralising results and he had already been challenged for the position by his former player Éamonn Barry before standing aside following the defeat to Cavan in the 2005 qualifiers.
But, six years after his last All-Ireland, faith had diminished in his ability to build another successful Meath team.
With Sunday’s defeat to Cork, Cody, 67, has now gone seven years without an All-Ireland, the longest stretch that Kilkenny have endured since 1993-2000, which ended with the first of his 11 titles 21 years ago.
There are potential suitors like Henry Shefflin and Eddie Brennan, while there were murmurings of discontent about Cody on Noreside last winter, most notably from Richie Power Snr.
However, though there is no Barry-like figure banging down the door, nor is there likely to be any time soon such is the respect for what he has achieved and, to a degree, what he continues to achieve.
Would Shefflin, Brennan or anyone else glean more out of the current group than Cody? It’s doubtful.
He has guided them to an Allianz League, All-Ireland final and successive Leinster titles in his last four seasons and while the next Liam MacCarthy Cup doesn’t seem to be imminent, a change of manager would hardly accelerate it dramatically, if at all.
Losing All-Ireland semi-finals in successive seasons is unprecedented in Kilkenny but is even reaching the last four two years running a little flattering considering how the Leinster Championship has fallen noticeably short of the standard in Munster in the last couple of years?
All things considered, the team probably progressed from this year to last given that they won Leinster more decisively after being let off the hook by Dublin and Galway last winter.
There were 10 starters common to the teams that played against Waterford last year and Cork last Sunday. Of the five that missed out, Conor Delaney and Conor Browne were injured, Cillian Buckley and Richie Hogan aren’t the players they were and while Martin Keoghan is considerably younger than those two, he has flattered to deceive and was introduced and replaced against Cork.
James Maher and Adrian Mullen were unavailable last year but were certainly additions, Michael Carey, Richie Reid and Alan Murphy less so. Indeed, Reid and Murphy have been around the panel long enough to suggest that if they were going to make a notable impact, they would have done so by now.
The impact from the bench was limited and there is no suggestion that Cody is overlooking players with compelling cases for inclusion.
While there is a case to be made that Kilkenny could use the greater tactical versatility that a new manager would likely bring, Cody is largely maxing out on what is at his disposal in a transitional period that is set to endure for some time yet, whoever’s in charge.
