Patrick Horgan: I'll keep playing hurling as long as I enjoy it

AFTER being dropped from the starting line-up in 2022, Patrick Horgan was back to his lethal best in the Munster Championship.

The Cork talisman was his county's top-scorer once again, and most impressively landed 1-3 from play against both Clare and Limerick, in the narrow losses on the road that saw the summer come to a premature close. When the need was greatest Horgan, 35 since May, looked as nimble and sharp as when he made his senior debut in 2008. 

Speaking this week on the popular  The Game on Sunday Podcast with GAA broadcasting icons Micheal Lyster, Pat Spillane and Tomás Mulcahy, which you can find here, he revealed he tweaked his approach to be lighter on his feet.

"A lot of that was down to our S&C Steve Casey and our dietician Billy Murphy but every year you always try to look for percentages. Even if it's a half percent it's worth doing.

"When I talk about the position I do in the full-forward line you're constantly sprinting so I thought you need to be lighter to run more often. 

I needed to sprint a lot more often and I just thought I needed to carry less."

He explained the environment under the new management team headed up by Pat Ryan facilitated his approach.

"My commitment to being better doesn't change. The big difference the year just gone, the positivity around the group made it easy to put your best foot forward and try things that would get your confidence going instead of being programmed to do one thing or the other.

"I honestly don't feel it. The boys 22, 23, 24 I want to mix it in with them. When I try to get better I don't see it as putting in hard work. I just love trying to be better and playing hurling."

Cork were eliminated from the championship in May but Horgan felt they hurled as well as they in a number of seasons.

"It's a strange feeling because since the new round-robin format came in we've qualified every year until this year but we've probably been more impressive this year than the last five or six.

"It comes down to the fine margins where we go up to Clare and we're beaten by a score from 120 yards and in Limerick we just needed to win one more puck-out because a possession was like a point on the day. One extra point would have got us through. We were just unlucky to come out the wrong end of it. Our season was over too early.

"The way hurling is these days everyone had a role in defence and everyone has a role in attack. On the day I thought we played all the hurling in the first half and still we went in a point or two down. We gave away goals in that first half that just killed us. Still, we had our chances when the crunch time came." 

The split-season approach has condensed the inter-county campaign significantly, which Horgan appreciates has benefitted club players in terms of planning and balance, but the downside is a short summer in Rebel red.

Fellow Glen Rovers man and Leeside legend Tomá Mulcahy paid tribute to Horgan's commitment to his club, who meet Ballincollig at 12pm on Sunday in Páirc Uí Rinn in the RedFM Hurling League Division 2 final. 

"After the defeat to Limerick on the Sunday, who was togged out on the Tuesday night up with the Glen only Patrick Horgan, as well as the two Downeys. It was fantastic to see because when you go out or lose a big game it can take a while to get the head up out of the pillow or get over it."

For Horgan, training and playing with the club and county is a pleasure.

"When I pick up my hurley to go down the Glen training it's because it's something I enjoy doing. When I go playing hurling, this is the time I'm enjoying myself. 

Some people nearly look at it like another job or something and if I ever do that about hurling I would not play." 

It's why continuing on with Cork is so appealing.

"If I thought I couldn't compete I'd be the first out the gap. When a WhatsApp Group is set up and you're added to it you get kinda butterflies and you're excited to get going. And I'd love to be involved with Cork again if I was asked to."

Echo columnist Tony Considine blasted Horgan recently for putting pressure on Pat Ryan by stating his desire to return to the Rebel fold. He wrote: "I think he should wait until he gets the phone call from the manager, and then say he is willing to stay on."

The veteran refuted Considine's criticism: "I'd never try to force anybody's hand and I know how many good young fellas are around Cork. To get on the panel again is a big ask. I clearly hadn't said that."

As for this weekend's All-Ireland semi-finals? He gave Limerick the nod over Galway by a nose with Kilkenny-Clare too close to call.