Hourihane: I still fear someone passing me out
LATE on Thursday at Aviva Stadium, Conor Hourihane was put up for interview by the FAI for the Sunday newspapers.
Post-match scrimmages are not always ideal for in-depth questions and answers, but something struck home about Hourihane’s comments before he boarded the team bus.
Checking back, he used the word ‘work’ 19 times, if you include ‘work-out’ and ‘working.’
Hourihane has put in more graft to get where he is than most. Each time he’s knocked back, he comes back for more.
Take last month, for example. After an indifferent contribution against Georgia – he candidly accepted he’d played poorly – Hourihane was left out against Switzerland three days later.
An unused substitute in Geneva, after the game he was out on the sodden pitch, pounding in the yards to get a sweat up after 90 minutes on the bench.
When it comes to a work ethic, the boy from Bandon has it in lorry-loads, and it has helped him make the climb from League
Two – he spent three seasons there with Plymouth – to the Premier League with Aston Villa this season, and international recognition deep into his 20s.
Along the way, he has averaged more than 47 games a season for the past eight seasons, twice topping the 50-game mark. Talk about bang for your buck.
And he is desperate to hold on to what he has striven so hard to attain.
‘I’m so appreciative of being at this level now,’ he said. ‘I try and enjoy it and make the most of every single day.
‘I say enjoy it but deep down I’m very angry and disappointed if I waste a day. I’m that type of lad. I don’t like wasting any days now that I’m here because it’s not going to last forever.
‘Every single day, I try to be one of the first in, last out, first on the training pitch, last off the training pitch. It’s just the type of lad I am.
‘I’ve spoken about it before, still having that fear of someone passing you out. If you don’t stay on top of your game, someone will pass you out.’
Hourihane hopes to have done enough to convince manager
Mick McCarthy of a recall tomorrow against Denmark for the must-win Euro 2020 qualifier.
Having scored the winner against Georgia in March, and stood firm in the trenches in Copenhagen in June, his chances are decent enough.
Should it come to pass, he will seize the opportunity he has fought so fiercely for.
‘It’s been a long journey for myself. That’s what I’ve always had to do; to scrap for everything I’ve got, and to where I am now. I’m always up for the challenge of battling people for places and all the rest of it.
‘You’ve got to go out and take your opportunity because chances slip by. These chances don’t come along too often. I’m all about the hard work in this qualification campaign and all about the hard work down through the years.
‘It definitely won’t be a piece of p**s on Monday, if you want to quote that.
‘Listen, Denmark are a very, very, good side, so we’ll probably go into the game as underdogs and hopefully that might suit us.’
Hourihane was 26 when capped for the first time under Martin O’Neill. At that age, you don’t often get second chances. He holds no grudges towards those who have opportunities thrust at them at an earlier age.
‘The young lads have been fantastic. Troy (Parrott) has come in and looked really lively in training, Jack (Byrne) has had a great year at (Shamrock) Rovers and you can see in training that he’s full of confidence.
‘Listen, you all judge them on how they do on the pitch but we see a little bit more of them and how they conduct themselves, the right attitude, good in training, sharp in training.
‘I always like the guy who gives out to the older guy for not passing to them.
‘John Egan said to me during the week that when Troy is up against him, how Troy gives him a hard time with his movement and when John has passed the ball, he might leave a little bit on him to let him know he’s around. Troy has been great.’
Hourihane has no-nonsense values of Roy Keane about him. He’s no fan of VAR, and thinks fans who invade the pitch are fools.
There was one idiot interloper on Thursday, whom Hourihane was ‘getting annoyed’ with as he larked about.
The time for fun is when the swords and shields are set aside after battle.
Until then, it’s all about work. And no one grinds harder than Hourihane.