Cork hurler Patrick Horgan at the launch of John West Féile 2025, marking 10 years of sponsorship by the company of the competition at Croke Park, Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
By John Harrington
Patrick Horgan will become the all-time leading scorer in the Allianz Hurling League on Saturday if he scores two points or more for Cork against Galway.
The Glen Rovers man’s tally is currently 25 goals and 664 points (739 points) which puts him two behind Kilkenny legend Eddie Keher on 72 goals and 524 points (740 points).
The 36-year-old is already the championship’s all-time leading scorer on 29 goals and 629 points but chasing personal records has never been what’s motivated him over the course of an inter-county career that now extends to 18 seasons.
“Nah, not at all,” said Horgan yesterday at the launch in Croke Park of John West Féile 2025. “You can't only play for that and go down and train as hard as you're training.
“It's really tough. Watching what you're eating, the time you're sleeping, what you're drinking, then the training on top of that being really, really hard. It's way too much in it just to be in it for something like that.
“A lot of work goes in, I think there has to be something more to it. If you're not enjoying what you're doing, it would be very hard to do it.”
Horgan is very much still enjoying what he does as evidenced by his impressive form so far in this year’s League.
For a few winters now he’s had to listen to people ask him when he’s going to finally hang up his boots, but his body and mind both remain as willing as ever.
“It's a hard one because you get reminded of your age all the time,” he says. “Age shouldn't be a thing. Not just because of the age I am. But when you actually break it down to what do you need to play at the level we're playing, I think I'm able.
“You probably hear from a lot of players that have moved on that they get a feeling at some stage, ‘this is it, I can't do this, I can't do that. I can't get to the ball. I don't really have the appetite to go and do the extra before training or after’.
“Something might go like that, but for me nothing like that has happened yet.
“I love it. I feel like I'm competing really well. Same as anyone else down training, I just want to get a position."
Patrick Horgan of Cork scores a point from a free during the Allianz Hurling League Division 1A match between Clare and Cork at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg in Ennis, Clare. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.
You ask Horgan if this is the strongest Cork hurling panel he’s been a part of in his 18 years as a senior county hurler and he immediately answers in the affirmative.
In his next breath though he quickly points out that talent and potential doesn’t count for much if it’s not harnessed sufficiently to win silverware.
That’s something the Cork senior hurlers haven’t managed in quite some time.
It’s 20 years since they won the Liam MacCarthy Cup, seven years since they have won a Munster senior hurling championship, and 27 years since they won the Allianz National League.
As things stand though, they’re now just two consecutive wins away from winning their first League title since 1998.
Winning is a habit, and were they to do that then it’s easy to imagine that this talented Cork team would get a taste for winning more and more silverware.
“Down through the years we've put in big performances in big games but following it up to win silverware is something we haven't really done and obviously something we want to do,” admitted Horgan.
“People talk about us like we're in the bracket with the top teams out there, but they all have trophies and we don’t.
“So obviously we have to get to positions they were in or they are in. They have them, we have to try and get there somehow.
“Limerick, Clare, even Kilkenny recently, all those teams have trophies. That's just something we still have to break into.”
When you lose one of the greatest All-Ireland Finals in the history of the game by a single point then you know you’re not far of tasting glory yourself.
Where does Horgan think Cork find a few extra percentage points that can transform them from contenders into champions?
“There's probably somewhere in every sector, I feel like,” he says. “At this stage, it's broken up into individual positions. I just think we haven't played our best so far.
“I think everybody feels that. We're getting a couple of results and all that. Against Kilkenny, we didn't play that well that often. It was a hard game.
“We didn't play our best. Against Clare, it was the same last week, we just got lucky with a few goal chances. The score didn't matter at all. It was way more competitive than the score suggested. We feel like we could be better.
“We want to put our best performance in. I don't think we have put in our best performance yet. I think we've a lot of room for improvement.
“And we know that. When we chat at training, we know there's a lot more in the tank. But we have to get it out. And that's the aim."
