By Michael Devlin

The hurling world was been plunged into discussion lately, thanks to a particularly lively TV debate, between the traditionalist and experimental schools of thought. It made headlines and set social media alight.

The implementation of sweepers and other defensive tactics in the game were staunchly defended, and the notion of a monochromatic way of playing the game was dismissed as antiquated.

Cork star Patrick Horgan is one who believes that innovation within hurling is essential. According to the Glen Rovers man, if you don’t tweak and adapt your game depending on your opposition, “you're going to be left behind fairly fast.”

“It's like paper, scissors, rock - everybody can beat each other doing different things” said Horgan as he collected the PWC GAA/GPA Hurling Player of the Month award for July this week.

“You have Kilkenny, everyone says they just play away - they don't, that's definite. They have more tactics and video analysis than anyone else - I guarantee you that. It's changing week-to-week and you have to have players who can adapt to that whether they're playing a Limerick type style or a Tipp type style.

“The more open-minded you are about the game, the better the conversation you can have with the team about what fella's think. No-one is coming in 'bang', it's a discussion between everyone and it's agreed upon - what you are going to do on a certain day. It might change week-to-week.”

And while Horgan was quick to point out that Kilkenny, a long-stayed traditional power of hurling, were as open to experiment as any other team, the manner of the way they dismissed of Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final a fortnight ago was quintessential of Brian Cody’s classic teams of the 2000s. Work-rate, hunger, desire, determination were all the overriding takeaways from the Cats’ battling display.

“They were everywhere. They upped their game from the quarter-final and to be fair to them, they’re after getting what they deserve, they’re in the final again.

“If you put yourself in Kilkenny’s shoes, it’s probably going to be easy to get up to play Limerick. They know they have to be at their best or they won’t compete and to be fair to them, they were at their best and Limerick didn’t know how to deal with them, especially in the first half.”

There was an element of intangibility about Cork’s quarter-final defeat to Kilkenny in the preceding game. The Rebels raced out of the blocks and played all the hurling in the first half, but somehow only led by two at the interval.

“You’re thinking ‘we had the ball for the whole half, how is that even possible?’ And then we just fell asleep for 15 minutes. We got back into after that, but it was probably too late.

“Keep doing what we’re doing,” is what Horgan says was the message in Cork’s dressing room at halftime. “But they obviously tweaked something, and it took us till 15 minutes to figure it out and by the time we did, it was something like six, seven points. We got it back to three but then we missed a chance or two to keep the scoreboard going. We left a lot of it after us, we’re better than that.

“I’d say if you look back on it, we won as much 50/50 but we just weren’t in the right places at the right times. They outnumbered us so the chances of the 50/50 ball going to them if there’s five on two, is pretty high. That’s what we put it down to.”

The defeat certainly wasn’t for Horgan’s own want of trying. He registered 3-10 of the Cork 3-18 total, one of the great individual hurling performances in Croke Park in recent years. His majestic third goal inspired that brief fightback late on, but there’s only so much one man can do.

“It’s like it hadn’t even happened,” Horgan dismissively repudiates about his 19-point personal haul. “When you lose, everyone is so down, there’s no positive from the game. Usually the positive is you’re back Tuesday night at training talking about the game, not this time.”

Horgan’s year is over, another outstanding season with no Celtic Cross waiting as a reward at the end. Back to life out of the Cork jersey, he was down in Dingle for the semi-final weekend, but was unable to bring himself to watch as it “would have been bit of a downer”.

Last weekend he competed for the first time at the All-Ireland Poc Fada up in Louth’s Cooley Mountains, something he says he’s wanted to do for a long time. “I went up on the Friday and did a practice round. It was a big mistake as I was wrecked! It was good fun.”

Next up is the Cork County Championship against Charleville next Saturday. “That’s going to be hard, especially with the big layoff that we’re all after having so we don’t know what to expect. We don’t know what to expect from ourselves or from the opposition, this is going to be the hardest round.”

It will be welcome return to the field of play for a hurler who lives for hurling. Horgan will look to 2020 with the same hope he looked on this year, trying to bridge the gap since 2005 and bring the Liam McCarthy back to Leeside.

Another season has passed and one of Ireland’s best hurlers still has no All-Ireland medal. How does Horgan reflect on the year?

“I suppose it wasn't great. Like that now, we get a lot of good performances in a year; even last year or the year before. We seem to have no trophies -- I know we won two Munsters the two previous years, but we need to get a big result in the semi-final or something just to get us going. It's been disappointing this year.

“We just have to be better. Every other team is progressing every year and we'll just have to progress more, like. That's basically it.”