BY SEÁN HOLLAND
CORK hurling hero Patrick Horgan might dominate the headlines after scoring his 700th championship point for the Rebels, but he has hailed the impact of the Rebels’ attack in their run to the All-Ireland final.
Man-of-the-match Brian Hayes hit 1-4 in the sensational semi-final win against five-in-a-row seeking Limerick last weekend, while Declan Dalton (0-4), Séamus Harnedy (0-4), Shane Barrett (0-3) and Alan Connolly (0-3) all kept the scoreboard ticking over too, as the Rebels set up an All-Ireland showdown with Clare on July 21st.
The Glen Rovers man, who racked up 0-5 last weekend, made his debut for the Rebels in 2008 and at 36 years of age, he’s still as lively as ever, loving life in a free-scoring Cork attack.
‘It's been great, really,’ Horgan said.
‘I suppose all our forwards have been flying. All our team have been. They just bring a lot of energy. Shane (Barrett) especially, he just doesn't get tired; it looks like it anyway. He just keeps going the whole match and it creates a lot of openings for other fellas as well by doing that.
‘Then you have the two boys on the wing who just always have to be minded as well. We've a good thing going inside as well with the other two lads. It's just unbelievable to play in the team, at the moment.’
Last Sunday’s 1-28 to 0-29 win against Limerick also marked a major milestone for the Cork corner forward, as Horgan surpassed 700 championship points for the county. Both Horgan and Kilkenny legend TJ Reid went into the weekend level on 699 points each, with Reid scoring seven and Horgan five. With Kilkenny out, it means Horgan is poised to surpass Reid in the final. But the record isn’t something he takes much heed of.
‘No, I can't (take notice of it). We've so much going on. We've training and matches, and you're trying to do what's best for the team. As soon as you have a game, like we have in two weeks, everything is geared towards it – how can you help the team and what can you do in training to help anyone? How can you get better yourself? That will be a great thing to look back at and say, “Oh, yeah, I did that”, but it's not a big deal.’
