Horgan: 'It's never about one day'

For newly retired Cork hurler Patrick Horgan, satisfaction lies in the journey and not the destination.

The lethal forward, who retired from senior inter-county hurling in September as the sport’s all-time top scorer, said he has no regrets when it comes to not winning an All-Ireland with Cork.

“I wouldn’t regret anything really,” he said.

“It’s never about one day.

“There’s only one team going to be happy. Are the other ten or 12 teams going to put their whole lives on hold, and if they don’t win it, it’s been a bad year? I don’t think it should be that way. There are things along the way.

“There’s going to be a lot of good things happen throughout the year, so it shouldn’t be defined by the last game of the year.”

Last week, Horgan was announced as the latest addition to the Cork U20 hurling management team for the coming season.

The Glenn Rovers man joins manager Noel Furlong and the rest of the selection committee: Dónal Óg Cusack, Tadhg Óg Murphy, and Seán Guiheen.

Though he said “nothing’s going to replace playing hurling”, Horgan is determined to put his almost two decades at the top level of inter-county hurling to good use in his new role.

“There’s a big jump from U20s to senior and if I can just add something to make that step a little bit easier for them, I’d like to do that,” said Horgan.

“I never thought I would get the chance to do it.

“It’s a big position and that level of hurling is something I’d be passionate about as regards the coaching side of it anyway.”

Since beginning his senior career with Cork in 2008, Horgan has won four Munster titles, four All-Star Awards, and a National League title. Across his 18 seasons for Cork, he scored an astounding 32 goals and 683 points in championship hurling and a further 26 goals and 674 points in the league.

“I feel very lucky that I’ve played as many games as I have. It’s a high number,” he said.

“18 years is a long time to do anything.

“It’s a great thing to be able to say, that there’s nobody ever hit the ball through the posts more, but it’s a number that just goes with being injury free, playing the amount of games I’ve played.

“I’m delighted to have it but TJ (Reid) is going to take it in a couple of months…unless I find out where he lives!” laughed Horgan.

For the time being, aside from his Cork U20s coaching responsibilities, Horgan said he will continue to play for his club Glen Rovers for as long as he can compete at a very high level. “I’ll play as long as I’m obsessed with training and being better. I’m not going to play to the point where I’m going onto the field and I don’t feel ready,” he said.

Patrick Horgan has teamed up with AIB, supporter of the GOAL Mile to encourage communities in Ireland to ‘Step Up Together’ and take part in the GOAL Mile this Christmas.

AIB are also offering people the chance to win €7,000, €2,000 or €1,000 for their GAA club by registering for their GOAL Mile by visiting goalmile.org and registering their club for the AIB GAA Goal Mile competition.