Hogan’s case for defence

IT IS a measure of the strength in depth of the Kilkenny panel that in a year when they lose the spine of their defence, they have still strolled to yet another All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final, their 13th in succession.

Neither Noel Hickey nor Brian Hogan – full-back and centre-back respectively – have hit a ball in anger in this year’s championship, yet the Kilkenny machine continues to power ahead. Able as their deputies have been, however, and both JJ Delaney and John Tennyson have done the needful in the wins over Galway and Dublin in Leinster, there is no doubt that defensively, Kilkenny are stronger when those two are operating in tandem.

Well, this week comes bad news for Waterford hurling supporters – they’re back. As Kilkenny prepare to take on their neighbours in Croke Park on Sunday, manager Brian Cody has a full deck from which to deal.

Noel Hickey has been particularly unfortunate, missing all the league because of a Gilmore’s Groin operation only to suffer a knee injury in training just before championship started; now, he’s back in the frame, raring to go. For Brian, the league final on May 3 was the day it all went awry. Ninth minute, Tipperary just starting to rev up, a ball broke around 60 metres from the Kilkenny goal, just right of centre – Brian Hogan territory. Then came the hit (legitimate hit by his immediate opponent, Seamus Callinan, let it be said), the instant pain, the sickening feeling – you know, with absolute certainty, there is damage, serious damage.

“I was stretching, reaching over Tommy Walsh, trying to flick, and at the same time I got the dunt on the shoulder – broken collar-bone. I was wide open, doesn’t take a whole lot to break a collar-bone anyway if you get hit the right way – just one of those things.

“It was sore at the time but settled down after a couple of days. The worst part was travelling up to the hospital; I knew something was broken, I knew there was something gone. In hindsight I suppose I got off fairly lightly – it could have been a lot worse.

“At around the same time I was reading about Tom Shanklin (Wales rugby player, missed the Lions tour) – he had separated the shoulder, and they were talking about an operation and 16 weeks recovery, so it could have been a lot worse.

Forget about the pain of defeat – working your way back from injury has to be the worst of times in the life of most athletes. On a champion team, however, a team on the cusp of history (four-in-a-row the target this year), a team with the kind of replacement bench they have in Kilkenny, that frustration is magnified.

“It’s a great thing, from a team point of view, to have that kind of strength in depth – the way things are gone now you won’t even be able to compete without a strong panel. But it is frustrating; you do all the hard and heavy training in January, February, March, April, you’re looking forward to the hurling training, going in to Nowlan Park and meeting the lads, having the battles in there.

WELL, he has got that precious all-clear, and he’s back in full contact training. One of those he will be coming up against on a regular basis in those now-famed training matches in Nowlan Park, however, is an old friend, Martin Comerford, or ‘Gorta’ as he’s known in Kilkenny.

A clubmate with O’Loughlin Gaels, Martin surprised everyone in the hurling world with a man-of-the-match 2-4 haul from play in Kilkenny’s last match, the Leinster final win over Dublin.

Well, almost everyone – not Brian. “Gorta is probably one of the most unselfish players around. There are times when he could probably go himself but he still lays the ball off to a guy in a better position.

“I’m sick to teeth of marking him, arms and legs everywhere – I’m not sure which of us is worse at it, we’re both tall (6’4” each), we’re both fairly awkward, so you can imagine yourself the two of us hanging out of each other.

“But you couldn’t ask for better training; most fellas leave the county and go back to the club, thinking it will be easier, but I go back to Gorta again – nothing soft there! With Brian, Noel Hickey and Cha Fitzpatrick all now back in full training, with the likes of Martin Comerford, it’s all systems go for Kilkenny this Sunday.

Bad news for Waterford? Without question, yes, but then this is a Waterford team with the two best motivation tools any team can ever have, going into a big game – the revenge factor, after the humiliation of last year’s All-Ireland final trouncing, and the underdog tag, not a soul in his/her right mind prepared to tip them to win.

“Yeah, we’re well aware of what awaits us,” Brian acknowledges; “It’s only natural – they didn’t do themselves justice in the All-Ireland final, they know that themselves. Usually there’s nothing between us, that result was a freak.

” The intensity will be up from that again, they’ll be pushing hard. I’m sure this is the draw they wanted, they probably hoped to meet us again.”

Probably not, Brian, probably not, especially now that Kilkenny are back at full strength. Still, though, in terms of physique, maturity, marquee names, if there’s any team out there who could – last September notwithstanding – stand up to Kilkenny, give them a real test, it’s Waterford.

Even if he is now ready and eager again for the fray, Brian Hogan is assuming nothing as far as his own position is concerned, taking nothing for granted – he may very well have to settle for another 70 minutes on the bench; be sure that, against Waterford, Brian Cody and Kilkenny will have the very same attitude.

Four-in-a-row is easy said, hard done. Unless of course you’re Cork, and it’s the early 40’s…