What's the key to a good hurley? Patrick Horgan and Shane Kingston break it down

Balance is one of those watch-words in modern sport, applicable in a variety of ways.

In GAA terms, it’s needed in terms of approach to a season, preparing for league and then championship without over-loading players; and in team assembly there is a need to ensure that attack or defence is not overly dominant.

Those are the macro utilities – when it comes to the micro, there is the basic need of carrying the ball through a phalanx of bodies and hopefully advancing it. That was evident as Cork’s Shane Kingston slalomed through the Limerick defence at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh in May, his progress only halted by Kyle Hayes at the expense of a penalty.

That led to a goal by Patrick Horgan which gave Cork the win to save their season – and, in terms of the hurley used to send the ball to the net, balance is a key consideration there, too.

The pair’s preferences for what makes a good hurley were among a number of topics covered when they joined Eamonn Murphy earlier this week for a special edition of The Echo Sport Podcast in association with Blackwater Motors Group.

Both Horgan and Kingston have their hurleys made by Aidan Walsh – “I call down for an hour, this fella [Kingston] calls down for a half a day or a day!” Horgan laughed, although Kingston was quick to dispel that – benefiting from the care that their former team-mate provides.

“It’s good when you know him, you can get him to tweak the small little things, whereas if you didn’t know someone they’d think you were very picky,” Kingston said.

Feel, and correctly dispersed weight, are what Horgan looks for.

“The handle and the balance are two of the most important things,” he said.

“The first hand on the hurley is everything and then the balance after that. 

The right weight in the right places – if you ever have a top-heavy hurler, it feels gammy.

“I try to get a thick hurley as well, I think you get a sweeter kind of a strike off it.

“You’d have one of about six that’d make the cut. The thing is though, if you break the one you commit to, you’re kind of stuck and you have to go back to the others and some of them turn out to be nice in the end.”

Horgan has yet to play since Cork’s All-Ireland final loss to Clare, sidelined by a hamstring injury picked up in that game. He is hopeful of a return soon to help Glen Rovers make it back to the Co-op SuperStores Premier SHC.

“It cost me the first game and then I re-did it at training one night, back to square one.

“I’m two weeks out from being back now again, so it’s not too bad.

“You’ve been away from the club the whole year and you want to get back as soon as you can, it’s about trying to get it right between coming back and doing your bit for the team and coming back and making sure the injury stays away.”

Turning the focus to club action has helped the two friends in trying to process the one-point extra-time defeat.

“We speak every day,” Horgan said, “and obviously we were fairly depressed after it.

“You actually wouldn’t understand how low you go until we went back training with the club – a couple of sessions in and you kind of come out of it but, for the week after, it was bad.

“At the time, you think, ‘It’ll be alright,’ but it was fairly bad alright, especially the way it happened at the end.”

This weekend, Kingston will aim to help Douglas past Newtownshandrum as they seek to reach the Premier SHC quarter-finals and he too has enjoyed being back in club colours, in hurling and football.
“The time flew by, the last two months,” he said.

It’s hard to get over that kind of disappointment but you probably haven’t too much time to reflect when you’re thrown straight back into club championship.

“You need something to take your mind off it and occupy yourself. It’s good to get back playing and back to the club, where you grew up.”