HOGGIE’S FEELING AS FRESH AS EVER
rybody has their opinions.”
Horgan says he didn’t fall out with anyone last year.
Cork lost the League final to Waterford by six points before stuttering in Munster, losing their opening two games to Limerick and Clare.
A backs-to-the-wall win in Waterford, and a victory over Tipperary kept them alive and they were unfortunate not to topple Galway after overcoming Antrim.
“When you’re putting so much time into something, you want the other players and everybody to be at the top of their game,” he remarks.
“We weren’t. It’s as simple as that, and we weren’t for a long period of last year.
“We kind of got out of jail against Waterford with a bit of a performance.
“Everything else after that, there wasn’t much happening.”
PATRICK Horgan says he feels as fit as he ever has.
The 34-year-old father of one is facing into his 16th season with Cork, having overcome a medial knee ligament injury at the tail end of last season.
Horgan (below) says: “I still enjoy it and I still feel fresh.
“Sometimes, when people ask me my age and I haven’t thought about it, I think about it and I say, ‘No, that can’t be right!’
“I feel fresh. I feel fit, probably fitter than ever before.
“I just have this drive for continuous improvement and any player in the country who has that, you don’t want to give it up when you’re thinking those things.”
The Glen Rovers man says playing on with a grade three tear on his MCL
(medial collateral ligament) “was probably the most stupid thing I’ve ever done.”
He continues:
“I’ve done a load of really hard work with the physios and to be honest with you, it’s now stronger than the
Horgan was taken off early in the second half in the victories over Waterford and Tipperary, with Tim O’Mahony coming in at full forward in a change of approach by the Cork management.
He was then left out of the starting team for the Antrim and Galway games, coming off the bench in both encounters.
Poor
Asked if he felt scapegoated for Cork’s poor Munster form, Horgan says: “You know what, they are even things that I don’t even think about.
“Because sometimes I can be a bit away with the birds.
“Because I literally only think about hurling and going training and being better all the time, and that kind of stuff you probably heard before from me.
“It’s literally what I do. I don’t think of the future. I don’t
Drive
other one.
“I’m lucky that way, I’m haunted, really.”
New boss Pat Ryan praised Cork’s character, which has been questioned plenty of times in recent years, after their recent win over Tipperary.
The Premier led by six points after 66 minutes of the Munster Hurling League final, but Cork came back to win by a point.
Horgan says it’s not something the players have talked about: “There’s too many other things to talk about. “Number one is how fellas are performing individually and how they’re preparing. “But I’d agree, Pat is right about the character side of it. We did show real character but you could say that was only a first step.
“You kind of need to see that on a regular basis before doubts go away.
“I’m not saying we doubt it — we don’t — but if anybody else does, you need to do it consistently before you hush it down a bit.” think how do I cover my back there now in all of this and how do I cover someone else.
“It’s not something I think about because when you buy into something with a group you are all in it forever and whatever comes out of it comes out of, but the main thing is supporting each other.”
“Obviously, we should probably be focusing on this year but if the question is there.
“Yeah, I was surprised I wasn’t (starting against Antrim) because I thought I was training really well. I felt really sharp at the time.
“But they obviously had different ideas and we’ll to go with that, really.”
In the middle of it all he surpassed Joe Canning as the Championship’s highest scorer.
He says he wasn’t given an explanation for being dropped, but he wasn’t necessarily expecting one either.
“I wasn’t told anything, really. I am in a panel of players and if someone is going to tell me why I am not playing or why I am playing, they’d have to tell everybody else, to be fair.
“That’s a big job too. I wouldn’t have expected a reason.”
He continues: “Every player goes through these situations at some stage in your career.
“I probably went through something similar in ‘17, early on. These things happen.
“People come in with different opinions, different mindset and different things they want.
“Different things from different fellas and you can’t do anything about that.
“All you can do is turn up every day and try your hardest to be a better teammate and a better player yourself.”