Hogan: lost pride restored

KEN HOGAN wasn’t quite bursting with pride after yesterday’s Munster final, alluding on more than one occasion to the obvious fact that his team hadn’t won anything!

But he was focusing on the positives from the team’s fighting second-half display.

Apart from his obvious disappointment at losing, Hogan’s only real regret was his belief that Cork got scores from frees they may not have done enough “to earn.” And, without directly implicating referee Barry Kelly from Westmeath, he inferred that the game had been held up unnecessarily at times “when it would be reaching a crescendo.”

“The game seemed to be punctuated with stoppages,’’ he stated. “It seemed to be flowing and then there’d be a free and the whole thing would be taken out of it. John Devane won a ball out on the wing when we were four points down (near the finish), he headed for goal and it was clear that he was fouled. But, the ball went down and Cork got a free which made it five. And that was basically it.’’

He didn’t know how many scores Cork got from frees (nine), but he was normally “very loath” to criticise referees.

“I respect their positions, but having said that, you can’t facilitate people. You have got to earn your frees. We expect to earn them and I’m sure Cork expect to earn them as well.’’

However, the popular Tipperary manager didn’t question the merit of the home win.

“We have great admiration for Cork. They are great people and great ambassadors for hurling. We salute them for winning the game. At the same time I’m delighted that we restored lost pride.’’

Hogan admitted that from an early stage his team had been “in trouble everywhere.” David Kennedy and Francis Devanney were the ‘fall guys’ who were taken off, but in reality, they could have made switches elsewhere.

“Players were at odds with themselves. About half the team were playing in their first Munster final. Maybe that militated against them, I don’t know. All I can say is that the lads were genuine. The attitude was, ‘we have got to dig ourselves out of this, we have to go again.’ I couldn’t say enough about their resolve.

“We decided at half-time to restore pride for our people, above all for Tipperary hurling’s sake and the youngsters that are coming along. We said that whatever happened, we’d leave everything out on the field but come in shattered. I think we did that as well as we could.

“Obviously we missed several chances and chances went abegging which you would have serious regrets about.’’

Breaking a rule not to single out individuals, Hogan praised midfield star Paul Kelly for “lifting his game to new heights,” adding: “He kept us in the game with some unbelievable points.’’

Longer-term, Hogan said he would take a lot of encouragement from the team’s displaying, pointing out that its development is ‘on-going.’

“Croke Park will tell a lot. Playing in the All-Ireland quarter-final is going to be a huge hurdle. The eight best teams will be involved and it’s going to be very tight.

“Hopefully, the games we have played will stand to us.”