Camogie’s Stars lead way again
ALL-IRELAND finalists Cork and Kilkenny lead the Camogie All-stars shortlist.
There is some consolation for losing finalists Kilkenny who get 14 nominations while Cork, who won a record 28th senior All-ireland, receive only 12.
Gemma O’connor has been nominated at midfield and is seeking an incredible 11th All-star Award whilst Julia White and Libby Coppinger are also nominated at midfield.
Tipperary and Galway both receive five nominations as a result of their run to the semi-finals.
Paudie Murray (Cork), Shane Plowman (Dublin) and Ann Downey (Kilkenny) are amongst the nominees for Manager of the Year, which will be announced on the night along with the 2018 All-stars team.
Nominees for the senior, intermediate and junior players’ player of the year awards will be announced next week. PATRICK HORGAN admits he’s obsessed with winning but insists that if he doesn’t lift the Liam Maccarthy Cup his county career will not have been a failure.
A recent ESRI report estimated that a county player commits on average 31 hours on championship match weeks to preparation and travel.
A decade into his senior Cork career, Horgan was asked for how much longer can continue to commit to such an extent.
The 30-year-old replied: “For as long as you can be obsessed with it. You have to be. If at any stage it annoys you or you get sick of it, you have to leave.”
Is that a healthy obsession? “With some fellas it would be, with some it wouldn’t,” Horgan said. “For me, it works perfect – even though a few of my buddies (say), ‘You’re a psychopath!’.
“I tell them, ‘All the boys are doing it. I have to do it!’.
“If you don’t think you’re going to win you may stay REBELS sharpshooter Patrick Horgan believes Cork were “robbed” of the 2013 All-ireland SHC title.
Horgan, who scored 10 points in the drawn final, has revealed that he is still haunted by that loss to Clare after a replay. Cork fans believed Horgan’s 7-th minute point of the final would be enough for victory.
Two minutes of additional time were signalled, but the equalising score by Clare’s Domhnall O’donovan came almost 40 seconds after those two minutes were up.
“Yeah, it’s unbelievably tough,” said Horgan. “I think about that game a lot, too.
“The game was over, and they’re not given out easily. And when you’re in the position where you’re up, time is up and he doesn’t blow it, it feels like you’re being robbed. It feels like it’s been taken from you.
“Having said that, time was up and I remember the puck-out came and there were five or six things that happened all in Clare’s favour at the time.
“That’s the way hurling is. Sometimes your luck is in and sometimes it’s not.
“That would have set us up for the following year,” he said. “We played unbelievable hurling the year after as well, Tipp beat us in the semi-final.”