Dublin hurling manager Mattie Kenny has spoken of his admiration for Kilkenny counterpart Brian Cody ahead of the two counties’ Leinster SHC showdown.

Cody gets set to lead the Cats into a 21st championship campaign this Saturday evening at Nowlan Park (throw-in 7pm) and Kenny has this week branded the James Stephens man “a legend in the game”.

“(He’s) a guy that I've huge admiration for myself,” Kenny told GAA.ie.

“I've met Brian on a number of occasions in the last 10 or 15 years – he's always such a gentleman, willing to give you time to talk about hurling. Everybody knows what he’s achieved with Kilkenny in those 21 years – something that will never be matched again.

"What I believe, under his reign, that Kilkenny team of a number of years ago was the greatest team ever to play the game. It was managed and built by Brian. There were a few times when he went back and rebuilt the team – on two occasions at least, and I suppose this is the third time that he’s rebuilding the team again. And, you know, somebody that you could have nothing but the utmost admiration for what he has achieved in his career – and continues to achieve.

"We saw that last year with Kilkenny – a brilliant League campaign and at the end of the day they were actually to lose out to Limerick, the eventual All-Ireland champions."

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