CORK LEGEND PATRICK Horgan has a long and thrilling highlights reel to look back on, but this year’s All-Ireland final is a day he never wants to revisit.
Horgan retired from inter-county hurling in September following a decorated 18-year career which ended in back-to-back All-Ireland final heartache. This year’s defeat to Tipperary was particularly demoralising as his side squandered a six-point lead at half-time before losing by 15 points.
The Glen Rovers forward, who was announced as a selector for the Cork U20s this week, says the team might review the footage when they reconvene for the 2026 season. But he has no plans to ever relive those painful memories.
“I’ll never look at it again anyway,” he says.
“I’d imagine the boys gone back now for the year ahead probably will review that game. They might look at it as a team and see where they think it went wrong, and this and that, but not for me, no.”
Commenting on his first foray into coaching, Horgan says he always wanted to explore this path but didn’t consider that an opportunity would occur this quickly after retirement.
A career which has yielded four All-Stars as well as the title of hurling’s all-time top-scorer in both championship and league leaves him with plenty to offer.
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“It just came up,” Horgan begins. “I had to think about it for a while and I just thought it was probably the best chance I could get, straight off and something I’d be interested in. It’ll be exciting. See how you get on. I haven’t done anything yet, but hopefully the next few weeks we’ll be back and hitting the field and that’s exciting.
“All these players are looking to play at a higher level than even this, and play for cork. If I can help them along the way in any way at all that would be great. Not having coached before, this grade I suppose will help. If I was to go back, say to an underage team, what could I share with them?
Patrick Horgan before this year's All-Ireland final against Tipperary. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“Whereas with the 20s, they’re all fellows that are looking to get to the Cork senior team, and having learned what I’ve learned over the years, the biggest benefit I could give them is probably my experience over the last few years.”
Reflecting on the honour of being hurling’s all-time top scorer, Horgan said he received a gift of a “sliotar and a hurley with something burned into it” after reaching that feat in the league. There was no such presentation in the championship although Horgan noted that commemorating such milestones in the GAA is not part of the culture.
However, he feels that having an NFL game in Croke Park this year could be good for the GAA in terms of improving the promotion and marketing of Gaelic Games.
“I think the NFL actually in Croke Park this year will hopefully open a lot of people’s eyes in this country because anybody that was there would see it was part of the atmosphere beforehand. Almost the last thing that you thought of was the actual match because there was so much else going on between music and the warm-ups and how it’s all just ran.
“I just think the GAA could learn a lot from that and make a kind of day out of it rather than just show up and throw in the ball, blow it up for the finish and go home. I think there is something in that.”
Horgan also spoke about the fascinating two-part camogie documentary which was screened on RTÉ recently. ‘Inside The Championship’ provided behind-the-scenes footage of various teams who were competing in the senior camogie championship this year. Incidentally, the Cork camogie team declined an invitation to take part.
Horgan believes such projects would be interesting for viewers but can’t see hurling teams being receptive to the idea.
“It would depend on so many different things, I don’t think it would happen. Would the players be okay with it?
“All they want to do is go down to be the best they can be, not to have to get a haircut on a Tuesday morning for a Tuesday night recording. The manager and so many other people, if one of that chain don’t want to do it, then it won’t work. It’d be good to get an insight every now and then to see what actually is going on, but I couldn’t see it happening.”
Looking to the future, Horgan says he will enjoy spending his winter at the ball alley, and having some competitions with his clubmates Rob and Eoin Downey.
“They still haven’t beat me there. That’ll be something they’ll be trying to turn over this year.”
Horgan also remains optimistic about his county’s chances at achieving All-Ireland glory as the new Ben O’Connor era begins.
“I give them a big chance even this year coming again. There’s no reason not to. They’ve been to two All-Ireland finals, they’ve won a league, a very competitive Munster Championship last year and played great hurling all year so there’s a really good side there.”
****
Patrick Horgan has teamed up with AIB to support the GOAL Mile. As part the campaign AIB is offering individuals who register for the GOAL Mile the chance to win up to €7,000 for their Gaelic Games club. To win, people need to register for their GOAL Mile and then enter the AIB GAA GOAL Mile competition at https://goalmile.org/aibgaacompetition
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'I'll never look at it again' - Horgan parks All-Ireland heartache as U20 selector role looms
CORK LEGEND PATRICK Horgan has a long and thrilling highlights reel to look back on, but this year’s All-Ireland final is a day he never wants to revisit.
Horgan retired from inter-county hurling in September following a decorated 18-year career which ended in back-to-back All-Ireland final heartache. This year’s defeat to Tipperary was particularly demoralising as his side squandered a six-point lead at half-time before losing by 15 points.
The Glen Rovers forward, who was announced as a selector for the Cork U20s this week, says the team might review the footage when they reconvene for the 2026 season. But he has no plans to ever relive those painful memories.
“I’ll never look at it again anyway,” he says.
“I’d imagine the boys gone back now for the year ahead probably will review that game. They might look at it as a team and see where they think it went wrong, and this and that, but not for me, no.”
Commenting on his first foray into coaching, Horgan says he always wanted to explore this path but didn’t consider that an opportunity would occur this quickly after retirement.
A career which has yielded four All-Stars as well as the title of hurling’s all-time top-scorer in both championship and league leaves him with plenty to offer.
“It just came up,” Horgan begins. “I had to think about it for a while and I just thought it was probably the best chance I could get, straight off and something I’d be interested in. It’ll be exciting. See how you get on. I haven’t done anything yet, but hopefully the next few weeks we’ll be back and hitting the field and that’s exciting.
“All these players are looking to play at a higher level than even this, and play for cork. If I can help them along the way in any way at all that would be great. Not having coached before, this grade I suppose will help. If I was to go back, say to an underage team, what could I share with them?
“Whereas with the 20s, they’re all fellows that are looking to get to the Cork senior team, and having learned what I’ve learned over the years, the biggest benefit I could give them is probably my experience over the last few years.”
Reflecting on the honour of being hurling’s all-time top scorer, Horgan said he received a gift of a “sliotar and a hurley with something burned into it” after reaching that feat in the league. There was no such presentation in the championship although Horgan noted that commemorating such milestones in the GAA is not part of the culture.
However, he feels that having an NFL game in Croke Park this year could be good for the GAA in terms of improving the promotion and marketing of Gaelic Games.
“I think the NFL actually in Croke Park this year will hopefully open a lot of people’s eyes in this country because anybody that was there would see it was part of the atmosphere beforehand. Almost the last thing that you thought of was the actual match because there was so much else going on between music and the warm-ups and how it’s all just ran.
“I just think the GAA could learn a lot from that and make a kind of day out of it rather than just show up and throw in the ball, blow it up for the finish and go home. I think there is something in that.”
Horgan also spoke about the fascinating two-part camogie documentary which was screened on RTÉ recently. ‘Inside The Championship’ provided behind-the-scenes footage of various teams who were competing in the senior camogie championship this year. Incidentally, the Cork camogie team declined an invitation to take part.
Horgan believes such projects would be interesting for viewers but can’t see hurling teams being receptive to the idea.
“It would depend on so many different things, I don’t think it would happen. Would the players be okay with it?
“All they want to do is go down to be the best they can be, not to have to get a haircut on a Tuesday morning for a Tuesday night recording. The manager and so many other people, if one of that chain don’t want to do it, then it won’t work. It’d be good to get an insight every now and then to see what actually is going on, but I couldn’t see it happening.”
Looking to the future, Horgan says he will enjoy spending his winter at the ball alley, and having some competitions with his clubmates Rob and Eoin Downey.
“They still haven’t beat me there. That’ll be something they’ll be trying to turn over this year.”
Horgan also remains optimistic about his county’s chances at achieving All-Ireland glory as the new Ben O’Connor era begins.
“I give them a big chance even this year coming again. There’s no reason not to. They’ve been to two All-Ireland finals, they’ve won a league, a very competitive Munster Championship last year and played great hurling all year so there’s a really good side there.”
Patrick Horgan has teamed up with AIB to support the GOAL Mile. As part the campaign AIB is offering individuals who register for the GOAL Mile the chance to win up to €7,000 for their Gaelic Games club. To win, people need to register for their GOAL Mile and then enter the AIB GAA GOAL Mile competition at https://goalmile.org/
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Cork GAA GAA Hurling Patrick Horgan reflections