The red mist floats from Pat to Henry
FROM the despair of the Gaelic Grounds two weeks ago to the elation of Thurles yesterday, Pat Horgan has embraced the ultimate emotional rollercoaster.
That day, Cork’s bid for a first Munster title since 2006 died the moment Horgan was shown a straight red card a minute before half-time. He watched helplessly as Limerick lorded over the Rebels in the knowledge that he faced missing yesterday’s quarter-final as a result.
Last week’s decision to overturn that red card ensured that was not the case, and he marked his return to the team yesterday with a man-ofthe-match haul of 11 points, including three from play, that has left 70 minutes and Dublin separating Horgan and Cork from a place in the All-Ireland final.
The Glen Rovers clubman admitted that he had been through sporting hell and back over the last fortnight.
‘Obviously I didn’t mean whatever happened. I am just delighted that I was allowed play today and after that I didn’t even want to think about what had happened or gone on,’ said Horgan.
‘It was definitely one of the hardest things I have faced, knowing you are going off and there are 14 players out in that heat giving it everything,’ continued the Cork forward, the irony not lost on him that two weeks on they ended up facing a mirror reflection of their distressed selves, with Henry Shefflin sent off in the final minute of the first half.
‘You can’t play with 14 men, especially the way the game has gone. It is very physical and very hard to play with 14. We found out today what we could do with 15 — we were all over the place and our fitness showed as well,’ said Horgan.
Cork’s conditioning had been questioned earlier this spring when the Rebels were relegated from the League’s top flight after being wiped out by Clare in extra-time of a relegation play-off.
Cork corner-forward Luke O’Farrell suggested that defeat was the making, rather than the breaking, of their season. ‘After we lost the relegation final to Clare, one of our main things was looking at our fitness. We died an awful death in the last 10 or 15 minutes in extra-time.
‘We worked really hard, serious tough sessions there with [trainer] David Matthews. When you have a feeling like that, you could run forever out there, just to get over the line. It’s just unbelievable, the adrenaline and everything,’ said O’Farrell, who hailed the win as the most significant of his inter-county career.
‘These are the days that we’re all playing for. It is absolutely unbelievable and it is simply one of the best feelings ever. Kilkenny are possibly the greatest team of all time.
‘Henry’s possibly one of the greatest players to ever play the game so i t’s very sad to see a player l i ke that going off.
‘But the last day Patrick Horgan was one of our main players and he got sent off. But obviously, there’s no point lying, it did gee us up. We knew they were down to 14 men and we knew what it was like from the last day to play with 14 men,’ said O’Farrell.
Cork manager Jimmy Barry Murphy, while conceding that Shefflin’s sending off had been a defining moment on the game, hailed his goalkeeper Anthony Nash for his double-save after half-time to deny Richie Power and Tommy Walsh, admitting that he ‘ f eared’ the consequences for his team if they had conceded at that stage.
‘Kilkenny were never going to go easy, and our lads showed great maturity at times, when they had to. Anthony Nash made two blinding saves and only for that it would have been a different game.
‘If they’d gotten a goal, given our vulnerability after the Munster final, I’m not sure how we would have reacted. I’m delighted with the win, it’s a great achievement.’
You can’t play with 14 men the way the game is