Patrick Horgan: 'My nephew Charlie is in a wheelchair. His first year or two was very hard'

On June 27, Patrick Horgan handed out specially-designed boxes of fibre in central Cork City, some with golden tickets inside. Cork GAA legend Patrick Horgan pictured as Virgin Media announced that they will deliver 4,000 boxes of fibre (cereal) to homes across Kerry, Cork, and Donegal, with thousands of euro of prizes to be won for lucky homeowners who find a "Golden Ticket" inside. Pic: Brian McEvoy

I grew up with my mam, dad, two sisters, and a brother in Blackpool and then the Glen. I went to the North Mon school.

A lot of my early memories are playing in the big square in Blackpool. We had everything we ever needed.

I had my own friends from a young age. They’re fellows I still hang around with now, they’re my best buddies. You get kind of scattered when you move away but we still are in contact and we talk on the phone.

As long as it was daylight outside, it was going to be about hurling. We played a bit of soccer but when it came to hurling, it was a bit more serious.

I’ve always loved hurling, very plainly. It’s never left me, really, that love.

If you’re dedicated enough to your sport or whatever it is you’re interested in, you can be as good as you want. That’s what I fully believe.

My nephew Charlie is in a wheelchair. His first year or two was very hard for everybody. He was in and out of hospital a lot. Between all the jigs and the reels, he stood up at one point but one thing led to another and he was bedbound. He ended up in a wheelchair. That was difficult. He’s six now. We’re very close. It’s not really about me but I’d say that was my biggest challenge.

Jack being born is my proudest achievement. It was said to me before but I never really got it — it’s a weird feeling that you get when you go in and see them first. It’s emotional. He’s the first thing that comes to mind.

If I start something, I always want to be better. A couple of years ago, I started playing squash with a buddy — just to go and have an old tap around. Even though I was shocking, I got really competitive and almost obsessed with it.

I keep things to myself. I wouldn’t have too many issues, to be honest. I’d have a lot of people I could depend on.

When I was younger, I was naturally fit and fast. As time went on, I realised there are other important things that I disregarded early on. Diet is so important, [as is] how you rest and recover. I would have never gone to the gym when I was younger.

I’ve really gotten into looking after my body and there’s massive benefit in it. I go to the gym now more or less every day or every second day. I go to Planet.

I do my cardio on the field. I just do weights in the gym with my buddies and we chat away as we’re working out. I wouldn’t take any photos, I’d just drive on. I wouldn’t be into that at all.

I’d like to be remembered as a nice guy. I’d want people to say I was good with kids and someone who would look out for you.

Every single match I play, I wish I had done something differently. I’m very hard on myself.

I recycle and do the basic stuff. I do what I can [for the environment] but I wouldn’t be over the top about it.

Hurling is something I’d be fairly good at in terms of skills. I can’t say anymore.

When covid happened, we looked back and wondered why were we rushing all the time. Life could be a lot simpler. Afterward, we all went back to running around again and panicking about things you probably shouldn’t panic about. It surprises me how quickly we did that.

Nothing scares me really. You obviously would have fears as a parent because the child depends on so much but after a couple of weeks, you get really confident in what you’re doing.

I don’t worry about the future. I just mind him [Jack] and see what I can do today. I suppose if I ever thought about it, death is kind of scary — the idea of what happens afterward.

I honestly don’t know if I would go back and change anything — except for a few match results, the
All-Ireland finals against Clare in 2013 and Limerick in 2021.

I was so young when I started playing hurling. As soon as I started it, I never wanted to stop it. There’s never been another option for me. I never wanted anything else. I can’t imagine a life without it.

Some day, it will come to an end, but you can always stay involved in some way. The best friends I have all come from hurling and that’s the real benefit of joining a team — you make friends for life there.

I got great advice from my dad growing up. Too much advice, really. If you did something wrong in a game, he’d be the first one to let you know. You’d be slow enough going in the front door.

It was a good thing, though. I always had stuff to work on. No matter what he said, I was going to work hard anyway.

• Virgin Media and Patrick Horgan recently delivered thousands of boxes of fibre (cereal) to homes across Cork, Kerry, and Donegal with thousands of euro of prizes to be won for lucky homeowners who find a ‘Golden Ticket’ inside in celebration of Virgin Media’s rollout of 2 Gigabit Full Fibre Broadband landing in the area.