CARD LUCK STORY
Horgan fumes as 2017 red rules him out of NHL opener
FUMING Pat Horgan has blasted the controversial suspension that rules him out of Saturday week’s glamour Allianz League opener with Kilkenny.
The Munster champions are due for a first competitive run out at Pairc Ui Chaoimh since its redevelopment, an occasion Horgan dearly wants to be part of.
But he’s ruled out because of the red card late in August’s All-ireland semi-final loss to Waterford when he and Conor Gleeson were dismissed.
Gleeson failed with an appeal and missed the All-ireland final while Horgan has now revealed he appealed too but met with the same outcome.
The 29-year-old said he’s ‘dreading’ missing the Cats clash on January 27 and advised anyone who wants ‘a good laugh’ to take a look at what he was red carded for.
Attacker Horgan said: “I was actually laughing coming off the pitch because of that.
I still don’t know why I got it but it stands anyway, I don’t know why it stands. I had no luck with an appeal which is strange because you can see from the video the whole incident, if you ever have a chance to look at it you should look at it and have a good laugh.
“I wasted half a day off work appealing. You put your point across but you know early on what’s coming.
“Pairc Ui Chaoimh, it would have been a nice one to play in wouldn’t it? It’s not often that fellas are chomping at the bit for a game in January but it’s one of the games you would be dreading missing because it will be a good game. It’ll be Cork’s first competitive game there.” Horgan believes Cork will approach the tie with optimism despite his unavailability with the good vibes from last year’s Munster breakthrough still strong.
The Glen Rovers man rejected the suggestion that players like Luke Meade, Darragh Fitzgibbon and Mark Coleman who burst on to the scene in 2017 will find it considerably more difficult this year.
Horgan claimed:
“Luke Meade,
Shane Kingston,
Coleman and
Darragh Fitz, there’s bags more in them. Last year they had a lot of growing to do muscle-wise and all of that but their hurling is unreal.
“I’m not sure how much you can just analyse them and stop what they are doing. Look at Darragh Fitz at midfield, when he starts running, no matter how much analysing you do, you won’t catch him. He’s a bullet. Same for the other two, the speed of them is ridiculous and they have the hurling then to go with it. So I’m not sure how you can stop what they are doing and they can only get better.”
Horgan enjoyed a standout season himself, breaking Christy Ring’s Championship scoring record for Cork and winning his All-star.
He said: “It’s nice to have the top-scoring record in Cork, it’s a small thing but it’s nice to be on that list.
“But then they’ll ask, ‘How many medals does he have?’ and that won’t be very much! We’ve to try and change that.”