Patrick Horgan, hurling’s most underrated forward

One of the all-time highest point tallies, a talisman for Cork for the last decade will go another year without All-Ireland honours — but why is Patrick Horgan still so underrated?

As the dust settles on the All-Ireland hurling semi-finals, another year will go by without one of game’s current great players winning the coveted Liam McCarthy Cup.

I’m not talking about Joe Canning or even Michael Brick Walsh, depending on whatever of their side’s is subsequently beaten in grand final in September.

I’m talking about one of the most undervalued and underappreciated players of the last decade — Cork’s Patrick Horgan.

Despite being Cork’s best player in their comprehensive defeat, Horgan will instead be remembered for a wrongful straight red card, a total injustice to a man who accounted for ten points of the Rebels’ total.

By the time the 2018 championship season rolls around, Horgan will be entering the twilight of his intercounty career, as a thirty-year-old and as time appears to be running out for the Glen Rovers club-man.

Don’t get me wrong, he will have another couple of seasons to showcase his talents in a youthful Cork outfit but the feeling among many was this could have been Cork’s year.

The underrating by the masses of this exceptionally gifted forward is something which has boggled this writer’s mind on numerous occasions in years gone by.

We aren’t talking about some run-of-the-mill Cork attacker here, that unfortunately throughout the last decade the Rebel’s faithful have been subjected too.

We are talking about a man who has better average scoring rates per game than DJ Carey, Joe Deane and Seamus Callanan. We are talking about a man who scored 19 points for his side in their 2013 All-Ireland final encounters with Clare, on top of the 1–30 he scored to get them there in the first place.

We are also incredibly talking about the fifth highest scoring player ever to play the game with a tally 12–288, which only trails hurling greats such as Henry Shefflin, Eddie Keher, Eoin Kelly and Joe Canning in the overall standings.

Yet here we are. As the season ends for the men in red and white, there has been barely a murmur about Horgan much like his entire intercounty career.

There is no, “Wouldn’t it be terrible if Horgan retired without a Liam McCarthy medal?” Barely a whimper of the superb performances he produced all year. No mention of him being possibly one of the greatest hurlers to ever retire without reaching the summit of the game. Why?

Horgan in interviews comes across as an unassuming man. He rarely covets the spotlight, with interviews from him are few and far between in the national media, especially for someone as gifted as he is.

With the Cork hurlers struggling for much of the last decade, much of the blame has fallen at Horgan’s doorstep. He’s cursed with the poisoned chalice of being a struggling side’s talisman and scorer-in-chief.

Speaking after his side’s Munster final victory this year, he admitted that “your head would be fried” by some of the flak cast upon he and his teammates in recent years.

This of course was following a run-of-the-mill thirteen-point haul for his side to win the Munster final and to also leap-frog the great Christy Ring in becoming Cork’s highest ever championship scorer. No biggie, just the standard Horgan performance we have come to expect.

Man-of-the-match? That accolade did deservedly go to Mark Coleman. But you can bet your last euro that if it was any other hurler on the field coming away with such a haul, they would most certainly be awarded the individual honour.

“Hoggie” very similarly to Galway’s Joe Canning in the past is much in the position of damned if you do, and very much damned if you don’t.

If Cork are winning, his mammoth tallies are to be expected but if they are faltering and he is perhaps having an off-day in front of goal you’ll be sure to hear about it.

He has been much maligned by the some of the Cork faithful in the past. If he doesn’t single-handedly drag his side to victory it’s a sub-par performance from his point of view.

Here is a man who has delivered when Cork have been at their lowest ebb. Here is the man his side always turn to settle them with a score when they are under the cosh. Here is a man who is the leader of a wonderful youthful and vibrant attack and always gives his absolute most for the cause.

Cast your minds back to the first game of the 2013 final for a moment.

With little over a minute remaining on the clock, Christopher Joyce delivered a long sideline cut into the forward line. Horgan gets out ahead of his man, takes the ball on the run and under pressure from two Clare defenders lands a superb score to edge his side into a one point lead.

“On to it here comes Horgan, can he be the match winner? Will this be the winner of the All-Ireland? It’s over the bar! Patrick Horgan gets a tenth,” were the words of Ger Canning.

As things worked out Domhnall O’Donovan sauntered forward and produced a breath-taking score of his own to level the game and Clare would go on to defeat the Rebel’s in a replay, despite Horgan’s best efforts in a game which he landed nine points.

Sport can come down to the finest of margins. Had Horgan’s point been the difference- would I be writing this article? Probably not. Memories are short but certain things like an All-Ireland winning point forever go down in folklore.

Horgan was one of three Cork players to receive an All-Star that year, highlighting just how big an influence he had for his side but unfortunately for Horgan he hasn’t won one since.

While this could very well be the year he wins another- it’s a strange situation that the fifth highest scorer in championship history has only a solitary All-Star to his name. Even more so when you take time to consider the countless individual accolades those around in the top scorer’s charts have to their name.

But the selection process for the All-Stars awards is an argument for another day.

As long as the masses can truly acknowledge what a fantastic and breath-taking hurler Patrick Horgan is should be more than enough. That it’s recognised that we are currently witnessing one of this generation’s truly great forwards and finally if this exuberant young Cork side are going to go a couple of steps further next year they will need this special talent at his very, very best.