Greatest Gaa managers of all time

Gallagher10

Hurling and football there have been many gifted managers and I wanted to share my opinions and views and see yours in this thread
In no particular order
Mickey Harte: self explanatory really, success at every level from club to senior county while carrying himself with dignity and class. Three All Irelands at senior level with another at minor level validates his place in with the greats. Brought Tyrone from nothing to all ireland contenders
Micko: no need to go into detail, 8 all ireland's 11 minsters I think with kerry. Success with wicklow and Kildare validate him
Brian Cody: Eleven All Irelands, despite the lack of competition in leinster the celtic crosses speak for themselves
Jim McGuinness : controversial pick probably but like Mickey Harte brought donegal from a laughing stock to champions in two years and had a chance of another last year. Understands the mental aspect aswell as the physical.

Anyone that I forgot?

Stereomaniac

Brian Cody is the greatest of all time.

Gallagher10

You see idk can i agree like if you gave Mickey Harte players of the calibre of Henry Shefflin and DJ I think he could win ten to eleven All Irelands

bruschi

Gallagher10 wrote: »

You see idk can i agree like if you gave Mickey Harte players of the calibre of Henry Shefflin and DJ I think he could win ten to eleven All Irelands

I know DJ played a bit of football for Kilkenny, but I dont think Shefflin was that good at football. dont think they would have contributed much to Tyrone in any case....

Anyway, Cody for definite. Record is totally unparalleled. Plenty of managers have had good players, none have been able to sustain the level of success that Cody has.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Mickey Harte,Cody and Micko are the top 3 in no particular order.

Harte deserves special praise from turning a county who never won an all ireland into winners.

He created a winning mentality in a county whereas Cody and O'Dwyer just added to an existing one.

The first one is always the most difficult

TCDStudent1

I do wonder sometimes if it has been a little selfish of Cody to stick around so long. I'm sure there are others in Kilkenny who'd have loved a go at the job in the last few years. Then again, with Codys success, he has earnt the right to be selfish.

Boom__Boom

Jack O'Connor has amassed a fairly decent amount of cups as manager and his strike rate in winning competitions is surely up there.

Inter-county
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship:
Winner (3): 2004, 2006, 2009
Runner-up (2): 2005, 2011

All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship:
Winner (1): 1998
Runner-up (1): 1999

Munster Senior Football Championship:
Winner (4): 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011

Munster Under-21 Football Championship:
Winner (2): 1998, 1999

National Football League:
Winner (3): 2004, 2006, 2009

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship:
Winner (1): 2014

Munster Minor Football Championship:
Winner (2): 2014, 2015

He is managing the Kerry minor team in this year's final again, so could well be adding another minor title to the list very shortly.
He is the Kerry U21 managers for the next few years so don't be surprised if he adds another title there too.

Schools
All Ireland Vocational Schools Championships 3: 1997, 1999, 2000
All Ireland Colleges Hogan Cup 1: 2009
Munster Vocational Schools Championship 3: 1997, 1999, 2000
Kerry Vocational Schools Championship 3: 1997, 1999, 2000
Munster Colleges A Championship 4: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009

Clubs
Kerins O'Rahillys
Kerry Senior County Championship 1: 2008

keane2097

Boom__Boom wrote: »

Jack O'Connor has amassed a fairly decent amount of cups as manager and his strike rate in winning competitions is surely up there.

Inter-county
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship:
Winner (3): 2004, 2006, 2009
Runner-up (2): 2005, 2011

All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship:
Winner (1): 1998
Runner-up (1): 1999

Munster Senior Football Championship:
Winner (4): 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011

Munster Under-21 Football Championship:
Winner (2): 1998, 1999

National Football League:
Winner (3): 2004, 2006, 2009

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship:
Winner (1): 2014

Munster Minor Football Championship:
Winner (2): 2014, 2015

He is managing the Kerry minor team in this year's final again, so could well be adding another minor title to the list very shortly.
He is the Kerry U21 managers for the next few years so don't be surprised if he adds another title there too.

Schools
All Ireland Vocational Schools Championships 3: 1997, 1999, 2000
All Ireland Colleges Hogan Cup 1: 2009
Munster Vocational Schools Championship 3: 1997, 1999, 2000
Kerry Vocational Schools Championship 3: 1997, 1999, 2000
Munster Colleges A Championship 4: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009

Clubs
Kerins O'Rahillys
Kerry Senior County Championship 1: 2008

You are some bollocks for getting that last one wrong. Monday mornings are bad enough without being made to unexpectedly puke at the memory of that day!

buggy beag

You could make an arguement that micko has the greater record seeing hes had success in other counties

Deskjockey

Ger Loughnane
Cyril Farrell
Jim "Tough" Barry
Fr Tommy Maher

Are four certainly for the long list

patsyrockem

Louis Walsh.

Red Kev

Kevin Heffernan belongs on any list.

He took a dublin team that hadn't won an All Ireland in 10 years or Leinster in 8 out of the doldrums and moulded one of the greatest GAA teams ever out of them. Admittedly the natural talent was there in the individual players, but his man management and tactical skills were first class.

commonsense.

My top 5 are:
1) Cody
2) Cody
3) Cody
4) Micko
5) Harte

Whatever about 4 and 5, don't think anybody can argue with my top 3!!!

Riskymove

I think that while the achievements of the likes of Cody and Micko are great, you cannot overlook the great teams they were in charge of

You could argue that any of the contenders for the job would have won a number of all-Irelands with the teams involved

some of the greatest individual achievements for me are when other counties managed success while up against such teams - Offaly, Tyrone, Clare etc.

Hammer Archer

More than 10 posts in and not a mention of Seán Boylan?
Came in as an unknown with a hurling background after Meath had lost their first game in Leinster two years running to Longford and Wexford. They were definitely down there with the worst in Leinster at the time.
Won the Centenary cup in 1984, the first Leinster championship in 16 years in 1986 and two All Irelands in a row in 87-88. Won two more All Irelands with a completely new team in 96 and 99.
Turned Meath into a team almost impossible to keep down. Big difference to today.

josip

I'm from Kilkenny and I think Micko.

Stoner

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote:

Mickey Harte,Cody and Micko are the top 3 in no particular order.

There is definitely an order

Harte is miles away from Cody. I'd have ignored this if you said the top two were micko and coady but harte is not in that league imo. Great manager but no Cody or Micko by a long shot imo.

Kevin Heffernan had a huge impact on the game, Sean Boylan and there are others, plenty of managers with a case to make that they were better than Harte, but all the discussions it would inspire aside there is no way Harte is on par with Cody.
And if someone wanted to discredit Micko by saying he had a fantastic squad, you have to say Harte needed good players too and when they were not available it showed. Boylan was successful with two Meath teams and was imo a better manager than Harte.

BrianBoru00

What would Cody have won if he had been manager of Offaly?
What would Harte have won if he was in charge of Fermanagh (or Derry).
what would Micko have won while with Limerick? - He won Leinster with Laois who had two AI winning minor teams coming through. Kildare was a decent achievement I think - and probably his best.

That said I think what Harte did bringing Minor, then U21 & seniors through has been exceptional.

Also agree that Jack O'Connor has had an outstanding career.

What about Ger Loughnane? absolutely drove Clare to the All Ireland and I don't think there was a lot of Minor / u21 success before it in the same with Davy Fitz had..


and of Course Boylan for creating two different teams 10 years apart..

fatalll

Micko Dwyer all the way.
Football championchip was harder to win in the 70's and 80's
Micko then did Laois and Kildare with success.
You can go on about minor teams, they contribute very little to senior teams in the scheme of things as regards players coming thru to senior.

Compared to the hurling now, its kilkenny every year with few to challange, plus three are less counties in the all-ireland hurling of course.
Yes Cody is a close second

So..
1.Micko
2.Cody
3. TBA

josip

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

What would Cody have won if he had been manager of Offaly?
...

Offaly were All Ireland holders when Cody took over in 98.

Say Your Number

If Cody took over Offaly in 1999, they wouldn't have been as dominant or he may not have even won an All Ireland, but they would at least have been more competitive and he have would got the most out of them, of course you need the players, but look at the Cork footballers over the last decade, they really underachieved, if Jack O'Connor managed that team they would have won 2/3 All Irelands at least, so having good players alone isn't a guarantee of success.

Maybe not the greatest ever but Pete McGrath is underrated.

akelly02

josip wrote: »

Offaly were All Ireland holders when Cody took over in 98.

yeeehaww

Dirty Dingus McGee

Stoner wrote: »

There is definitely an order

Harte is miles away from Cody. I'd have ignored this if you said the top two were micko and coady but harte is not in that league imo. Great manager but no Cody or Micko by a long shot imo.

Kevin Heffernan had a huge impact on the game, Sean Boylan and there are others, plenty of managers with a case to make that they were better than Harte, but all the discussions it would inspire aside there is no way Harte is on par with Cody.
And if someone wanted to discredit Micko by saying he had a fantastic squad, you have to say Harte needed good players too and when they were not available it showed. Boylan was successful with two Meath teams and was imo a better manager than Harte.

Not sure about that.

Harte won Minor u-21 and senior with Tyrone and turned perennial underachivers into a great team.He beat a genuinely great team in Kerry 3 times out of 3 in Tyrone's peak years.

Cody is a great great manager but the natural talent he has had to work with is above anything any other manager has ever had.

It is a massive advantage working with a team with tradition and a history of sucess it takes something special to build that.

adrian522

A lot of begrudgery on this thread. Cody has achieved more than anyone else than has been mentioned. Lots of other managers have had great players to work with but have achieved nowhere near this level of success.

Kilkenny have always produced great players but have typically won 2 or 3 All Irelands every decade.

With Cody they have been dominant for about 15 years. That can't all down to getting lucky with these great players dropping on into his lap, as much as you may wish that to be the case.

A lot of players that are now viewed as great were not always viewed in that light even within the county.

Cody has achieved because he always gets the best out of his players and always has them hungry for more. Other managers have a short period of success but can't keep that hunger and motivation there year after year.

O'Dwyer is the only one that comes close to be honest.

Stoner

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote:

Harte won Minor u-21 and senior with Tyrone and turned perennial underachivers into a great team.He beat a genuinely great team in Kerry 3 times out of 3 in Tyrone's peak years.

He did no more than Boylan and Heffernan and far less than Cody imo. But sure here we are.

Turtwig

It's always difficult to judge managers in sport. Most of the people that assign qualities to a manager can't accurately read the coaching or tactics of a team. I cannot read hurling that well. I have no idea how good a coach Brian Cody is or whether he just has inherited an abundance of talent that is a level ahead of the rest. But I do know this, whenever Kilkenny appear to be struggling against an opponent Cody has made positional changes and sometimes substitutions that change the entire flow of a game. He's done this consistently and that's a hallmark of a great manager.

Greatest ever? Impossible to tell. The greatest manager in GAA might actually be someone who's won nothing and just got an unbelievable amount out of his team.

Also, some managers are better with less gifted players than others. Others, can work systems that only work at a top level of a sport. Would Cody be able to get best out of shyte hawg team in the 3rd division of Kerry hurling? Possibly. Is he able to get the best out of Kilkenny side? Possibly. The truth is we don't actually know. Yes they won, but did play to their top potential? Is there a system they could play that would make them better? If you cloned the team is there a manager who could play Kilkenny against Kilkenny in such a way that nine out of ten times Cody's version are comprehensively beaten.

This is why greatest managers, greatest players of all time are moot topics. Nobody has seen enough and analysed enough to actually be able to tell a dam thing. It inevitably always boils down to who's won most and for that you need to be managing the best counties anyway.

jmayo

I was surprised it took so long to mention Sean Boylan and it pains me to say that.

He developed multiple teams years apart.

One fault I would have with Micko was that he left Kerry in the doldrums for years because he was unable to do what Cody has done so successfully.
Maybe there wasn't the talent coming through there in Kerry at the time, but all the key players were all the old guys from 75/78 right up until 86 and beyond.

Cody just keeps morphing the team a little and it just keeps on going.
Maybe he is just blessed with a county that just keeps producing good players.

Saying that hurling has less teams and some of them are often rudderless.
Clare by all that is right should be challenging for last few years.
It is such a waste of talent.

And if people are going to start lauding McGuinness then I am surprised no one mentioned John O'Mahony.

fatalll wrote: »

Micko Dwyer all the way.
Football championchip was harder to win in the 70's and 80's

Football championship in 70s and 80s when Micko was in charge basically had no Ulster or Connacht teams worth a cr**.
Leinster had two and Munster had two.
Some years second best team was probably Cork.
There was no back door to bring them back into the mix.

K-9

Boylan definitely up there, Pete McGrath as well.

Its a bit early to say but Malachy O'Rourke looks the pick of the current bunch for me, whether he'll ever pick a top county to actually prove it is another thing. Would be interesting to see him get a Cork or Galway, maybe even take over from Harte.

keeponhurling

Deskjockey wrote: »

Ger Loughnane
Cyril Farrell
Jim "Tough" Barry
Fr Tommy Maher

Are four certainly for the long list

Loughnane's time at Galway was a bit of a disaster, not sure if that reduces his claim a bit

shockframe

Billy Morgan would have to be considered too.

Proabably the most significant factor in the downfall of the Golden Era Kerry football side. Beating them 7 times out of 10 in championship in his 87-96 stint when before they had lost 2/3 of games in 100 years. 4 out of 9 cork wins in Killarney under his watch.2 all Irelands as cork manager and all Irelands with nemo and ucc.Not to mention still relevant at 70.

He always tended to lose his first finals admittedly but his determination to keep coming back has been nothing short of phenomenal.

keane2097

jmayo wrote: »

Football championship in 70s and 80s when Micko was in charge basically had no Ulster or Connacht teams worth a cr**.
Leinster had two and Munster had two.
Some years second best team was probably Cork.
There was no back door to bring them back into the mix.

All Kerry All Irelands in the 70s & 80s were soft.

padd b1975

Hammer Archer wrote: »

More than 10 posts in and not a mention of Seán Boylan?
Came in as an unknown with a hurling background after Meath had lost their first game in Leinster two years running to Longford and Wexford. They were definitely down there with the worst in Leinster at the time.
Won the Centenary cup in 1984, the first Leinster championship in 16 years in 1986 and two All Irelands in a row in 87-88. Won two more All Irelands with a completely new team in 96 and 99.
Turned Meath into a team almost impossible to keep down. Big difference to today.

Séan Boylan gets my vote too.

Meath had a pretty woeful record basically going as far back as the 1950's.

Boylan comes in, and suddenly all that changes.

Boylan departs, normal service resumes.


Kerry and Kilkenny will always win All Ireland's on a regular basis no matter who manages them. It takes a really special manager to grab a county by the scruff of the neck and turn them into winners.

Mickey Harte deserves a mention, but Tyrone were always going to challenge judging by the talent that was coming through at that time.

No back door for the majority of Boylans career either.

Dyr

padd b1975 wrote: »

Séan Boylan gets my vote too.

Meath had a pretty woeful record basically going as far back as the 1950's.

Did meath not win a few leinster titles in the 50's and 60's?

padd b1975

Bambi wrote: »

Did meath not win a few leinster titles in the 50's and 60's?

They did and managed to get to a couple of finals too, no where near the sustained period of consistency that SB achieved.

josip

padd b1975 wrote: »

...
Kerry and Kilkenny will always win All Ireland's on a regular basis no matter who manages them. It takes a really special manager to grab a county by the scruff of the neck and turn them into winners...

Does that mean that Cork/Kilkenny/Tipperary hurling managers and Kerry/Dublin football managers can't be considered and only occasionally successful counties can be judged?

padd b1975

josip wrote: »

Does that mean that Cork/Kilkenny/Tipperary hurling managers and Kerry/Dublin football managers can't be considered and only occasionally successful counties can be judged?

No, not at all.

But you cannot ignore the structures and tradition that are in place year in year out in the counties you've mentioned.

They certainly don't make life difficult for a manager.

BrianBoru00

adrian522 wrote: »

A lot of begrudgery on this thread. Cody has achieved more than anyone else than has been mentioned. Lots of other managers have had great players to work with but have achieved nowhere near this level of success.

Kilkenny have always produced great players but have typically won 2 or 3 All Irelands every decade.

With Cody they have been dominant for about 15 years. That can't all down to getting lucky with these great players dropping on into his lap, as much as you may wish that to be the case.

A lot of players that are now viewed as great were not always viewed in that light even within the county.

Cody has achieved because he always gets the best out of his players and always has them hungry for more. Other managers have a short period of success but can't keep that hunger and motivation there year after year.

O'Dwyer is the only one that comes close to be honest.

Would you care to point out the begrudgery?

I don't believe anyone said Cody was anything other than a superb manager and when you get a superb manaer together with an exceptional conveyor belt of talent then you get domination.

But just because he has won 11 All Irelands does not mean he is a better manager than Mickey Harte or Ger Loughnane. Neither does the fact that Micko won so many All Irelands make him a better manager than Jack O'Connor with his 4.

savannahkat

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

But just because he has won 11 All Irelands does not mean he is a better manager than Mickey Harte or Ger Loughnane. Neither does the fact that Micko won so many All Irelands make him a better manager than Jack O'Connor with his 4.

Kilkenny had a fairly miserable record for the best part of seven years before Cody took over and in fact had only won 4 All Irelands since 1980. He did not therefore inherit a conveyor, belt rather he created one by not just bringing in minors and under 21s but seeking out and giving a chance to anyone irrespective of age or club or previous inter-county experience . Derek Lyng & Gorta being prime examples of the latter. He also did away with favoring certain clubs picking on merit and merit alone and I say this as a Boro man who would have no great time for Cody's village. Yes there was great underage work going on in Kilkenny just as there is in many other counties a good example being Galway who have won more AI minor titles than Kilkenny in the past 20 years but do not know how to bring it to the senior scene and just as Clare are finding it difficult at the moment to do it on a sustained basis. Cody has brought through at least three practically different teams. He refused to allow big names become complacent an dropping any that did a fault both O'Dwyer, Harte and to a lessor extent Boylan have fallen for. To suggest that Cody is not the best GAA manager of all time is like saying Ali or Pele were not the respective best ever in their sports. Some here are blinkered all right and it is an anti Kilkenny bias pure and simple because to suggest there has been a better GAA manager is not sustainable under any logical reasoning.

Mountainlad

Agree with that I have to say. Kilkenny weren't amazing in the 90s by any stretch of the imagination, think I'm right in saying that under Brennan they were actually in division 2 in the league.

Codys record is unreal, he made that team. Players like Shefflin and Brennan weren't the prodigies day of a Tony Kelly or joe Canning underage and yet look what they became under his stewardship. He has reinvented the team three or four times. When you look at how good they were in 2009 when they won the 4th of 4 in a row, And the players that didn't or hardly played any of this years final: Kavanagh, Delaney, Tyrell, Tommy Walsh, Hogan, JJ, Derek Lyng, Shefflin, Brennan, power, Rice, Tennyson, gorta, cha and Noel Hickey.

When TJ Reid came in around 2008 he was decent but didn't look like a superstar in the making. Look at the hurler he's made of him in he last two years. Even with that turnover of incredible hurlers, they were more impressive this year than they have been since 2011. That is just unreal. There's been some fantastic managers in both codes, but Cody beats all.

BrianBoru00

savannahkat wrote: »

Kilkenny had a fairly miserable record for the best part of seven years before Cody took over and in fact had only won 4 All Irelands since 1980. He did not therefore inherit a conveyor, belt rather he created one by not just bringing in minors and under 21s but seeking out and giving a chance to anyone irrespective of age or club or previous inter-county experience . Derek Lyng & Gorta being prime examples of the latter. He also did away with favoring certain clubs picking on merit and merit alone and I say this as a Boro man who would have no great time for Cody's village. Yes there was great underage work going on in Kilkenny just as there is in many other counties a good example being Galway who have won more AI minor titles than Kilkenny in the past 20 years but do not know how to bring it to the senior scene and just as Clare are finding it difficult at the moment to do it on a sustained basis. Cody has brought through at least three practically different teams. He refused to allow big names become complacent an dropping any that did a fault both O'Dwyer, Harte and to a lessor extent Boylan have fallen for. To suggest that Cody is not the best GAA manager of all time is like saying Ali or Pele were not the respective best ever in their sports. Some here are blinkered all right and it is an anti Kilkenny bias pure and simple because to suggest there has been a better GAA manager is not sustainable under any logical reasoning.

And I'd ask who i blinkered? and also where is the anti Kilkenny bias.

But its an absolutely ridiculous notion that he is undeniably number 1.

I think he'd certainly have one a number of All-Irelands with Galway , I think he has proved himself to be one of the greatest managers of all time. But its not anti Kilkenny bias or anti Cody to say thats it's not unequivocal and that reasoned arguments can be made for Boylan, Harte, O' Dwyer et al.

U21 is a far greater indicator of Senior success than U21 and in the past 25 years, Kilkenny have been in 12 finals winning 7 whereas Cork & Tipp combined have been in 8, winning 4.

Again. No one has said that Cody is'nt a great manager.

But if you refuse to accept reasoned arguments then you're probably not as good a judge as you think you are.

FrKurtFahrt

Much has been made of Cody inheriting a conveyor belt of players, and also of the structures in place in Kilkenny that help him in his role as manager. There is, of course, a huge element of truth in this, but I would argue that there is a lot more to his ability. There are many in Kilkenny who will swear that Cody made class hurlers out of the likes of Tyrrell and Lyng, and that he also got rid of players who were proven winners - Carter, for example.
If managing a team was as easy as picking your best available players, we could all make a decent stab at it - but Cody has shown time and again his ruthlessness, passion and intelligence when it comes to putting a winning team (players, advisers, backroom staff and everything else that goes with it) together.
To my mind, he is peerless - and that's not to denigrate any of the others mentioned in this thread.

savannahkat

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

And I'd ask who i blinkered? and also where is the anti Kilkenny bias.

But its an absolutely ridiculous notion that he is undeniably number 1.

I think he'd certainly have one a number of All-Irelands with Galway , I think he has proved himself to be one of the greatest managers of all time. But its not anti Kilkenny bias or anti Cody to say thats it's not unequivocal and that reasoned arguments can be made for Boylan, Harte, O' Dwyer et al.

U21 is a far greater indicator of Senior success than U21 and in the past 25 years, Kilkenny have been in 12 finals winning 7 whereas Cork & Tipp combined have been in 8, winning 4.

Again. No one has said that Cody is'nt a great manager.

But if you refuse to accept reasoned arguments then you're probably not as good a judge as you think you are.

Go read the thread. You are asked who was/is the best GAA Manager of all time, not the first fifteen. Go back to the rugby or soccer which ever it is you watch for you know sfa about gaa managemnt.

BrianBoru00

savannahkat wrote: »

Go read the thread. You are asked who was/is the best GAA Manager of all time, not the first fifteen. Go back to the rugby or soccer which ever it is you watch for you know sfa about gaa managemnt.

BrianBoru00 wrote: »

....Again. No one has said that Cody is'nt a great manager.

But if you refuse to accept reasoned arguments then you're probably not as good a judge as you think you are.

I rest my case

Royal Legend

padd b1975 wrote: »

They did and managed to get to a couple of finals too, no where near the sustained period of consistency that SB achieved.

Hey, we won AI in 67 as well, got to a league final in 75, lost the first 70 minute all Ireland in 1970, as well as winning in 49 and 54.

Boylan was a brilliant manager, wish someone like him was still in charge

Royal Legend

Mountainlad wrote: »

Agree with that I have to say. Kilkenny weren't amazing in the 90s by any stretch of the imagination, think I'm right in saying that under Brennan they were actually in division 2 in the league.

Codys record is unreal, he made that team. Players like Shefflin and Brennan weren't the prodigies day of a Tony Kelly or joe Canning underage and yet look what they became under his stewardship. He has reinvented the team three or four times. When you look at how good they were in 2009 when they won the 4th of 4 in a row, And the players that didn't or hardly played any of this years final: Kavanagh, Delaney, Tyrell, Tommy Walsh, Hogan, JJ, Derek Lyng, Shefflin, Brennan, power, Rice, Tennyson, gorta, cha and Noel Hickey.

When TJ Reid came in around 2008 he was decent but didn't look like a superstar in the making. Look at the hurler he's made of him in he last two years. Even with that turnover of incredible hurlers, they were more impressive this year than they have been since 2011. That is just unreal. There's been some fantastic managers in both codes, but Cody beats all.

100% ML, without doubt the greatest GAA manager of all time, when he first arrived there was a bit of a soft underbelly in the KK team, he seemed to make that toughness a key requirement and had no sentiment for the superstars that had in his opinion passed their sell by date, most obvious one of these was Charlie Carter, but there were a lot of others who followed a similar fate.
Name one other manager in Irish sport or possibly world sport who, after losing their star player(s) some of them rated as the greatest of all time (Henry/DJ) and still win the following year.
So amongst others this year he lost his main leader in Henry and one of the greatest defenders in JJ yet, (plus losing Jackie to injury) Holden will probably win an all star at FB and TJ will probably follow in Henry's and DJ's footsteps and will be feted as one of the greatest of all time in the next few years.

Grueller

Cody for me is the greatest.

2nd best for me is also a Kilkenny man that a lot of you whippersnappers won't remember. Dermot Healy. He went to Offaly who had won nothing of note previously and won two All Irelands and I think 4 Leinster titles.

In football it is harder to pick due to the greater spread of really successful candidates.

Pride Fighter

savannahkat wrote: »

Go read the thread. You are asked who was/is the best GAA Manager of all time, not the first fifteen. Go back to the rugby or soccer which ever it is you watch for you know sfa about gaa managemnt.

Be civil in your posts or dont post at all. No need to jump down someones throat who has a difference of opinion.

josip

Royal Legend wrote: »

...Name one other manager in Irish sport or possibly world sport who, after losing their star player(s) some of them rated as the greatest of all time (Henry/DJ) and still win the following year....

Joe Schmidt?

BrianBoru00

josip wrote: »

Joe Schmidt?

+Eamon Fitzmaurice last year?

Jack O'Connor in 2004?

jmayo

keane2097 wrote: »

All Kerry All Irelands in the 70s & 80s were soft.

Ehh I never said they were soft.
They had to beat a very good Dublin side in the late 70s and then had to beat a pretty good Offaly side in early 80s.
The last 20 odd years there have been good teams from Leinster, Ulster and Connacht that could all possibly win it.

And before someone has a sarcastic comment about it only being Mayo, don't forget Galway have 2 All Irelands in last 20 years.

The sad thing that has now happened is that there is no real provincial football competition in Connacht, Leinster and to a degree Munster.

As for Managers.
Cody has an almighty record both as player and coach.
I think he was won everything bar a Fitzgibbon.

He has been brilliant at being ruthless and just keeps things fresh, but one cannot forget the fact that if he wasn't in Kilkenny he wouldn't have half of those.
In any sport I always wonder how successful some guys would be if they had to work with different teams.
I do reckon Cody would have had success with some other teams.
He would have won a few, but no where near double digits.

K-9

All Ireland's tend to be harder to win now, that's hardly a controversial opinion. Its a bit similar to the Champions league in soccer being harder to win than the old European Cup.

Micko winning 7 in 9 years was some achievement though, stands the test of time.