By John Harrington

In the aftermath of Kilkenny’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final win over Clare, much of the commentary zoned in on Eoin Murphy’s outstanding injury-time save from Peter Duggan’s rasping shot.

It meant that there was little or no mention in the post-match analysis of another pivotal moment in the match – Conor Fogarty’s heroic block on Mark Rodgers in the 23rd minute that almost certainly prevented a Clare goal.

Any young hurler looking to develop both their defensive nous and technical ability would do well to watch back the video of that moment.

During Clare’s attacking move Fogarty attempted to intercept both Peter Duggan and Shane O’Donnell but was half a step away from them when they got the ball in their hands.

He never stopped tracking the danger though, and when O’Donnell laid the ball off to Rodgers the Kilkenny midfielder had picked the perfect intercept line and appeared as if from nowhere to dive and stretch his hurley to block Rodgers’ shot.

It would be easy to describe that moment as an instinctive one from Fogarty, but it wasn’t. It’s a scenario he had drilled in training that very week, which is why it was all the more satisfying to execute in such a big match.

“Yeah, it was definitely satisfying,” says Fogarty. “It's something that I practice and I had practiced with Alan Murphy a couple of days before just after training. It's something I would work on. So, from that point of view, it would be satisfying.

“Look, it's just a skill of the game, blocking. He just throws a ball up to try to hit it over the bar and you try to block it and just repeat. It's just through that sort of repetition we'd work on it, really.

“I suppose from the match point of view it's probably just one moment in a match where there are hundreds of moments. It was no more important than any of the other blocks, hooks, or scores throughout the game. You take Billy Ryan's turnover for the goal, that was every bit as important, I suppose.”

It’s no surprise to hear Fogarty play down his own contribution to Kilkenny’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final win.

He’s always been a humble type that keeps his head down and works extremely hard on and off the pitch to extract the maximum from himself.

It was for those qualities he was a mainstay of the team under Brian Cody for so many years, and why new Kilkenny manager, Derek Lyng, also values him highly.

“I think Conor has always led by example,” says Lyng. “Just by his actions. He minds himself so well; he prepares so well; and he performs. He’s a very reliable fella, a solid fella, brilliant character.

“Again, you have important fellas in a dressing-room and he’s one of them because he sets the standards and that’s what you want.

“You want players like that who can drive the standards and lead by example. Conor has been doing that for a number of years now, and continues to do it. And he’s doing it very well.”

If you want to get an insight into Fogarty’s character, look no further than his father Martin, because the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.

You won’t meet a more enthusiastic hurling man than the former GAA National Hurling Development manager, and Conor shares his father’s undiluted zeal for the sport as well as can do attitude.

They have a close bond, and over the years father has been an important source of solid advice for son on and off the pitch.

“Sure look, he's been huge, he's been great, to be fair, there in the background with the advice and time and effort he gives,” says Fogarty.

“He's probably no different to any parent, really, bringing you to matches and sorting you with hurls and grips and hurling balls and the whole lot. Yeah, he's been huge. He's been a huge addition to me there, really.

“No matter what, if it was even to go down to the pitch to work on a few bits he was there. He'd go down with you and would be only delighted to do so. He'd keep you grounded as well too, that's another thing, and he'd keep you focused on keeping your mind sharp.

“Like I said, he's probably the same as any of the parents out there who have children involved, they're doing their best for them.”

When Conor first joined the Kilkenny panel in 2011 his father was one of Brian Cody’s selectors but that was never going to smoothen his path.

It wasn’t until 2014 that he established himself as a regular in the team, by which time his father had departed the set-up.

“I suppose when you're a young lad coming in there it was a serious Kilkenny team at the time and you had to earn your salt,” recalls Fogarty.

“Very few are just dropped straight in and walk onto the team. You have to prove yourself. Like you said, I think 2014 was when I got my championship start.

“But even before then it was a great experience. While you weren't making teams and that kind of thing you would have always felt you were contributing in training and you were hopefully testing the lads who were playing.”

Fogarty’s big break came in the 2014 Leinster SHC semi-final replay against Galway when Brian Cody rung the changes and parachuted Fogarty in at midfield to bring greater defensive solidity to a team that had conceded five goals in the drawn match.

It was a selection that raised a few eyebrows because up to then when Fogarty had played for Kilkenny it was as a corner-back, and even he himself was somewhat surprise to be given an engine-room brief.

“It might have been a little bit out of the blue, alright,” he says. “I'd spent a lot of my career playing in the backs. But, look, the lads probably took a chance on me in midfield and luckily enough I had a decent enough game that day and kicked on afterwards.

“I'm not too sure where the move came out of myself. Probably playing with the club and stuff I would have been happy enough to play out the field with my club and that sort of thing. I was probably comfortable playing anywhere there from four out to eight or nine. I was happy enough with that.

“I played Intermediate with Kilkenny and think I did a stint out midfield as well. I probably had a good level of fitness at the time and Brian and them probably just took a chance and said, look, maybe he's a good engine in him so lets put him out there and give him a go.

“No better test than Galway in Tullamore. It was massive for me to get in there and to hold your own for a start. But to get on well was great for me. You're just glad to come through it and happy to win the game on the day which was brilliant.”

Fogarty won All-Ireland titles (2014 and 2015) in his first two seasons as a starter with Kilkenny to go with the brace of Celtic Crosses he won as a panellist in 2011 and 2012.

The second-half of his inter-county career hasn’t been nearly as prolific as the first, but that has never diminished his commitment to the cause.

“The few years don't be long moving by,” says Fogarty. “You'd obviously be hugely disappointed to have lost a couple.

“But look, that's hurling. I wouldn't get irritated by it, but you'd be hoping that it would drive you on. That's all you can do with it really. And hope that it adds fuel to your fire moving forward.

“It’s been a couple of years obviously since we won an All-Ireland but you just dust yourself down and get going again once the pre-season rolls around.

“You get that hunger back in the belly and you're ready for more, really. You probably don't dwell on the past too much. That's what it's all about, really, just getting on with it and putting the shoulder to the wheel.”

When the Brian Cody era ended after last year’s All-Ireland Final defeat to Limerick, the older players in the panel must have been wondering where they’d stand with a new manager who might want to put his own stamp on the team in terms of selection and tactics.

Fogarty turned 33 this summer which makes him comfortably older than the average inter-county hurler, but once he had faith in his own ability to still impact matches at the highest level he was confident he could do a job for Cody’s successor, Derek Lyng.

"Look, I suppose when you move on into your probably latter years, you obviously weigh up the options,” he says.

“But my mind was probably weighed up with how I performed with my club - that's probably the big question that you ask yourself. Am I still in the frame here? Am I hurling well enough with my club to get in with a shout with Kilkenny?

“That's what it boils down to. Whether it's at the stage of my career that I'm in now, or whether it was in my first year with Kilkenny, how you perform for your club is what it boils down to. And does that give you the opportunity to get back in with Kilkenny? That's what I was weighing up in my head.

"It does get that little bit harder on the body. The recovery comes into it then and being a little bit more sensible with the body. Maybe you might not be able to train as many days of the week as you would have when you were in your 20s.

“And maybe you're erring on the side of being a little bit fresher as opposed to wanting to get that extra training session in. But we're very lucky with the coaches, the physiotherapists and everyone we have. It's a very professional set-up for keeping the bodies intact, which is great.”

When Fogarty was called up to the Kilkenny panel in 2011 he joined a team that had dominated the sport for the previous 10 years and would do so for another five.

With Sunday’s All-Ireland Final opponents, Limerick, seeking to match that Kilkenny’s team achievement of four All-Ireland titles in a row, many comparisons are being drawn between both teams.

Fogarty thinks they’re justified, and knows if he and his team-mates are to stop the green machine from making it four on the bounce they’ll have to be ready for war.

"Yeah, there are (similarities),” he says. “It probably boils down to the hurling. They have physicality and they have outstanding hurlers. Similar to the Kilkenny period that you were talking about, there are similarities of course.

“It's going to be a battle and that is what you are preparing for really. It is going to be tough. We've been there before so we know what is ahead of us. It is never any different with Limerick, or any other team. It is never easy.

“Your preparation really is what you rely on. You rely on your instinct and your preparation. Preparation has been good throughout the year, so that's what we'll be relying on.”

Instinct and preparation. Two qualities that have made Conor Fogarty Kilkenny's Mr. Reliable.