RISE OF A BLUE-CHIP FINISHER
Horgan’s first-round display promises big things for Cork
‘CORK NEED A PLAYER WHO WILL GET BALL WHEN THEY’RE IN A CRISIS’
IF IT was any other Cork forward, the individual performance would likely have drawn rave reviews. Kilkenny corner-back Paul Murphy doesn’t just have four All-Stars in the No2 jersey but also a collection of corner-forward scalps to rival anyone in the game. In a week when Colin Fennelly took aim at the drudgery of life on peacekeeping tour in the Lebanon, his former army colleague came under some heavy shelling himself. Cork didn’t take much from the tame manner of a first round Allianz Hurling League defeat by Kilkenny, Cormac Murphy one of the few bright spots in an all too supine display. And yet it was the casual brilliance of Patrick Horgan in the No15 shirt that adorned the afternoon, a quiet study in blue-chip finishing that added to the book of evidence that he is, arguably, the greatest player in the game right now not to have a Celtic Cross.
Five of his 10 points came from open play. On a day when Cork were invariably on the back foot at a place that has proved a painful hunting ground, that was a statement of how lightly he wears the scoring burden up front. That Murphy too emerged with credit tells of an absorbing man-onman battle.
And the scores came any which way. In the first half, Luke Meade played a little trick ball sideways out to Daniel Kearney, who had drifted deep inside his own 65. A long, diagonal delivery was caught by Horgan, out in front of his man before turning almost in the same motion and firing over the bar off his left.
An early free had gone abegging but that brought Cork back to one. Soon after, he took a lay-off from Aidan Walsh and, with boots almost touching the sideline, split the posts from a tricky angle from the right sideline.
But for one logic-defying save from Eoin Murphy, he could so easily have turned the momentum back in Cork’s favour in the second half, peeling away to take Declan Dalton’s lay-off, shortening his grip to avoid the hook and sending the ball heading for the net at top speed. A stunning one-handed reaction stop from the current All-Star goalkeeper allowed Kilkenny to freewheel home.
The night before, Seamus Callanan was reminding the world of his blinding talent, the Tipperary captain’s second half brace of goals wrapping up the points against Clare. Given that Donal Tuohy saved his first penalty – Callanan’s shot was so strong it actually broke the Clare goalkeeper’s hurley in two – and he put a second one over the bar on the instructions of management, he could in theory have finished with 4-6 rather than 2-7.
Next Saturday, TJ Reid, another of the game’s finest forward talents, will seek to inspire Ballyhale Shamrocks to another All-Ireland club final. What links the three players?
All three were born within 10 months of each other — Cork’s ‘Hoggie’ will turn 31 this coming May. All made their Championship debuts around the same time in the summer of 2008. Since then, Callanan has gone from cameo role in Tipperary’s breakthrough All-Ireland win of 2010, to lead role in the 2016 triumph, to team captain.
Reid is a Hurler of the Year with 10 All-Irelands to his name when the three previous titles with Ballyhale are added to the seven with Kilkenny. Horgan is still searching for the medal that his career so richly deserves.
It would have been his point to win the 2013 All-Ireland final for Cork, only for Domhnall O’Donovan’s jaw-dropping equaliser for Clare to force a replay.
He’ll win that All-Ireland when the support cast is good enough, same as Joe Canning did with Galway. Until then, a familiar set of questions remain – as if it is his fault that he hasn’t been able to master the art of bilocation.
Just as the debate rumbled about where best to play Canning, given that he could become isolated in the fullforward line if things weren’t going Galway’s way, this week Brendan Cummins suggested that Cork needed him just as much in the half-forward line.
‘When Cork are under pressure, they should play with two inside and Patrick Horgan comes out,’ said the former Tipperary goalkeeper and captain. ‘He scored 0-5 from play, he is lethal so you do sacrifice a little bit but you need to get him on the ball more often.
‘That’s what Cork need, they need someone out around the middle third who will get on the ball when there is a crisis and they are not scoring to change the momentum of the game.’
It is just that he was that leader in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final against Limerick, even on a day when his radar was slightly askew, carrying the fight right to the final whistle of extra-time. And Cork’s preference is to let the likes of Shane Kingston wander out from the corner and leave Horgan as part of a two-man inside threat.
Aidan Walsh’s testing afternoon in an orthodox full-forward role against Kilkenny hardly suggests he is the answer in terms of a support act inside.
But two points from play from the rest of last Sunday’s forward line combined suggests the first thing that needs to happen is others step up to the plate.