Patrick Horgan on why his career won't be defined by winning an All-Ireland medal or not

IF there is one hurler being mentioned all week ahead of the All-Ireland it is Patrick Horgan.

Everyone has been saying wouldn't it be great to win it for 'Hoggie' to see him get that medal he deserves for all he has done for Cork hurling...

But the man himself knows that winning a final is easier said than done and he is one of the few players still around from their loss to the Banner in 2013, after a replay.

Cork lost to Limerick in 2021 as well but in 2013 it was far closer and it looked like Horgan had scored the winning point before Clare equalised and won the replay.

Reflecting on the drawn game and asked did he think about it much over the last 11 years he said: " It's probably every day. I'm only joking. No, obviously it was disappointing at the time.

"We probably should have got over the line but we didn't. 

It stung for a while after, yes. But after that, it was a case of getting back to what you loved doing. 

"You can think of that and it'll affect your going forward or else just try to forget about it and improve.

"From what I can remember it must have been just a thing that was supposed to happen. I just remember a sequence of play where five or six things happened, and if one thing happened differently, the game was over, and it just seemed to break for them. A handpass going to the ground then picked up. A couple of things happened like that, and then the strike, and I think one of our or fellas went for a hook and just missed and it went over the black spot and that was that."

A lot of the narrative has been about Hoggie and this being a final centered around him and his career, but he said that like all players he has had good days and bad days along the way.

"I've had good days down through the years and the amount of stories you have from match days going down through the years and training and 17 years of my life has been coming here, hanging out with the boys.

"New fellas coming in, getting to know them, becoming great friends with them. That means a lot to me. Obviously, it'd be unbelievable if we could get across the line, but it can't be just about that. In your hurling career, it's lovely to get it and everybody wants to have it [All-Ireland medal] and I'm no different. But I'd look over my career and ask myself did I enjoy it or didn't enjoy it and I did.

Sunday won't have an impact on whether I play or not next year. If I see myself falling off performance or speed-wise, and, you can see that easily. 

"And if I feel like I don't have the hunger to train and put in the amount of effort that the players have put in, then I wouldn't. It's a very simple thing to say, I'm not going to do it because if you don't have it, you don't have it.

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"For now I love coming down early, being ready, throwing on the gear, going out, and just do whatever you want on the pitch. Boys come along, have a few chats or whatever. That's what sport is. It's great to be involved in these big games and sell-outs there like last week. But it's about the people you meet and the days you have with them.

"I don't think much about the scoring record, everybody is on about it down at the minute, but it's just commentary. And for me, it's like trying to be better at trying to get in the same mindset as all these young folks on the team. They all want to get better and they like just hanging on to them and you know. 

"Trying to do what they're doing. It's an environment that I haven't been in as long as I played with Cork. 

There are so many players that are of a growth mindset and they're looking to push on and achieve more and get more of themselves.

Horgan has been lucky and over the years hasn't picked up too many injuries and considers himself lucky to have been involved for so Long.

"You could be flying and then you could pick up a knock. You could be out for three or four months. You might miss the championship then because it came at the wrong time. Then next year, it's all the fight for places again.

"Some other fella comes in and he's flying and you're in a competition for a place you might not get. Then that's two years gone. So you have to be lucky along the way as well and I have been really lucky, I have to say that."

Life has changed for him over the last few years and having his son Jack at the games has made them extra special.

"Yes, he's on the pitch more than me. He loves it. He'd be crying over the noise, but once he touched the grass, then I couldn't get him off. 

But for me, to look back and having Jack there, when all this is happening and we're getting so much support and crazy, like sell-out stadiums nearly every time we play and having him there, that's what it's about really. Looking back on things like that."

No matter what happens on Sunday and whether Patrick stays or goes he can look back on a career with Cork that has seen him play his part in any success the Rebels have had and no doubt the chant of 'Hoggie, Hoggie' will roar around Croker on Sunday.