Hogan ‘controlling the controllables’

The Big Easy, that’s golf’s Ernie Els, so named not just for his languid, easy golf swing but for his attitude to life.

But it is a moniker that could just as accurately be applied to Kilkenny’s Brian Hogan.

At 6’4”, Brian is an imposing figure. As centre-back on this most outstanding of teams he is also a commanding figure, yet everything he does seems so unhurried. Those loping legs enable him to eat up the ground, those long arms enable him to cover a vast area left and right, while that telescopic hand seems to pluck ball from the clouds, all done with seemingly effortless ease.

It’s not like that of course. You don’t win the top accolades in golf or hurling unless you also have a core of steel; Els has it, Hogan has it.

Attitude does separate them from the pack, but it’s the correct attitude. “There’s a great quote, you control the controllables,” says Hogan, ahead of his seventh successive All-Ireland senior hurling final. “We can’t control what Galway are going to throw at us. We can only control ourselves and what we do well. Looking back on the Leinster final we didn’t do that, so that’s what we have to change.”

So what do you control before hurling’s biggest day?

“Routine. Most guys are probably the same, they are creatures of habit. I’m sure if you talk to any of their partners they will tell you the same thing: the one thing we hate is deviation from the routine, particularly coming close to a match. I would be that way inclined. I would stick to my routine, and that’s it. I would tend to become a recluse on the Saturday in particular. The phone is hopping and in fairness, it’s people with the best will in the world, but you tend to turn off the phone come the evening time. Everyone is different. Some guys like to go home to their family and stay busy, other lads like to chill out and do whatever they do. I tend to either go to my parents, watch TV and not talk to anyone, or stay at home, watch TV and not talk to anyone. Preferably I’d watch sport, chill out, then get my meal on the Saturday night and go for a walk. You don’t change anything because you have your formula. Subconsciously you’re telling yourself, ‘It’s game-time, it’s another match’. If you change your habits, next thing is, ‘Jesus! It’s Sunday, I’m playing a match!’ You’ve done it all season for every match so your body knows and your mind knows, subconsciously. You’re doing the same thing so that come Sunday morning nothing should have changed.

“You feel the same way, you do your Sunday routine; you have set times then as well so that come 3.30pm you’re ready.”

Once on the field, however, it’s all very different. He’s still trying to exert control but now too it’s a case of adapting, of being ready for anything. “Generally speaking we’ve always had our style of play and we stick to it as much as possible — it’s all about imposing your own game. Down the years, teams have tried to employ different formations and this, that and the other but ultimately, I think they get found out. More teams have tried third midfielders and in certain stages of a match it may work, just to steady the ship, but I think over the course of a game these things don’t tend to work. If you’re doing that (departing from the orthodox) you’re leaving space somewhere else. Teams should be able to exploit that space. I think that’s the beauty of hurling, it’s very much an instinctive game. You really have to go with your gut instinct and the best players will hurl off-the-cuff. They seem to always do the right thing with the ball, it just comes naturally to them. That’s why hurling is regarded as the most skilful game.”

That’s why also Brian Hogan can make all this look so easy. He has that gut instinct, he has those all those long-practised skills but he also has that most precious commodity of all, and it’s an innate talent. Regardless of circumstance, Brian keeps his composure.