Rebel ace believes he was ‘treated unfairly’ but hails recent positivity

CORK’S four-time All-Star Patrick Horgan believes he was ‘treated unfairly’ last year by management and that ‘the year was kind of a failure before it even happened. I think there was stuff going on all the time.’ He painted a picture of a turbulent last year in charge for Kieran Kingston – Cork lost the Allianz Hurling League final to Waterford and an All-Ireland quarter-final to Galway – and hailed the ‘positivity’ since Pat Ryan has taken over. Hurling’s all-time championship scorer was dropped for the AllIreland qualifier against Antrim and parachuted into the team against Galway at half-time in place of Conor Lehane after Cork spurned a host of chances from play and from placed balls, hitting double-digit first-half wides. ‘Yeah, I suppose it was challenging,’ he said of watching on from the bench. ‘I thought for a lot of last year that there was a lot of, I suppose, treatment going on that I thought wasn’t fair. That doesn’t mean to say anybody else didn’t think it was fair. Anybody who doesn’t play thinks they’re being treated unfairly, but I was one of them and I thought I was being treated unfairly. ‘I could see that happening from the sideline and, while I was wishing that it wasn’t happening because they’re all my friends out there and I want to see the best for all of them, it was tough. ‘I had no control over what I could do, only to just go out and warm up, and if I was called on I’d try and do my bit.’ Heading into 2022, Kieran Kingston made changes to his backroom team, with Ger Cunningham and Christy O’Connor departing as coaches and Pat Mulcahy and Noel Furlong being appointed selectors. The backroom was added to by highperformance expert Gary Keegan and strength and conditioning coach Stephen Casey, but Kingston (below) decided in the wake of Cork’s exit to step down, after initial reports suggested a oneyear extension to his term. Horgan reaffirms that sense that he got a raw deal as Cork’s summer unfolded and that all wasn’t right behind the scenes. ‘I prepare myself the best I can for every game. I know what’s required for myself to be competitive. I don’t think much went right last year and I don’t know what that was down to. The year was a failure before it kind of even happened. There was stuff going on all the time that really is not supposed to happen. ‘Everybody is supposed to be positive and everybody is supposed to be driving each other. ‘When you have fellas training three, four or five times a week, giving it their all, the least they deserve is probably a bit of encouragement. That’s exactly what’s happening at the moment. Every fella is driving on, we’re getting a buzz off each other. It’s a great place to go.’