There was stuff going on that’s not supposed to happen on a team
THIS YEAR’S VIBE A LOT BETTER FOR HORGAN
THE question is asked, Patrick Horgan notes, so he says he will answer it.
Horgan — the hurling championship's all-time top scorer — believes he was “unfairly treated” last year.
And the 34 year old goes as far as to say the year was, “Kind of a failure before it kind of even happened.”
Horgan was dropped for the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final encounter with Antrim and benched again as Cork crashed out of the Championship against
Galway.
Kieran Kingston's rebels hit 12 first-half wides that day, including missed frees before dead ball ace Horgan was called into action at half-time.
Horgan slotted over four points, including two frees and a 65, but Henry Shefflin's Tribe clung on for a one-point win to set up an All-Ireland semi-final date with Limerick.
Kingston left the post at the end of the season and double All-Ireland winning under-20 manager Pat Ryan took over.
“I just think there was stuff going on all the time that really is not supposed to happen on a team,” says Horgan of last year's set-up.
“Everybody is supposed to be positive and driving each other — exactly the way it's happening now.
“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 and a buzz off the positivity around the group now. It's a great place to go.
“When I go to work in the morning, the one thing I'm thinking (is), ‘I can't wait to go training tonight', and that's always a good place to be.”
Spurned
Not such a good place to be was on the bench as Cork spurned chance after chance against Galway in a game which they might have won — and with something to spare.
“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,” says the four-time All Star.
“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 (misses against Galway) and, while I was wishing it wasn't happening — because they're all my friends out there and I want the best for all of them — it was tough.
He continues: “It was hard to look at and it wasn't because I wasn't there, but it was hard to look at because I know the effort the players on the field put in.
“They put in a savage amount of effort every night, shooting and improving their own game and efficiencies and all that.
“I suppose when a game happens like that, it just comes and there is not much you can do about it.
“It was tough to watch, I suppose, my friends going through a situation like that, when I know the effort they were after putting in, and leaving scores like that behind, they would have been disappointed themselves.”
Horgan says he isn't dwelling on what happened last year, as he faces into his 16th season with Cork still hunting that elusive All-Ireland medal.
Prepare
“Is it something I think about? No,” he continues. “I obviously prepare myself the best I can for every game, every week and every year.
“I know what's required for myself to be competitive. Maybe I didn't do enough (last year). Maybe I did — I don't know.
“I don't think much went right last year and I don't know what that was down to. I suppose eve