Tetchy Horgan remains defiant

The full-time whistle had long since blown and Patrick Horgan swapped his work clothes for civvies, but the Glen Rovers man had yet to divest himself of the confrontational drive that fuels every sportsman on the field of play.

The questions were far from hostile yet framed in a way that made it clear those asking were of the view Cork pilfered a draw on a day when they were some way short of their best.

Fair to say Clare played better than ye, Pa?

“We got three goals like,” was the response, one not without truth. “You’re criticising us all year for not getting goals. We get three and then you’re saying they’re better than us. What are you on about, like?

A minute or two later and the exchange was repeated.

Did the occasion get to Cork?

“Why’s that?”

Ye seemed to take a while to get to grips with things.

“Sure, we were up by a point (in injury-time). How could it get to us? We were two seconds away from winning an All-Ireland so I don’t know what you’re all going on about really.”

It was an interesting take on things. Talk to many a player or manager who has known the purgatory of a drawn encounter and they will tell you that the seeds for victory and defeat are often sown in the immediate aftermath of the stalemate.

It’s a psychological minefield but one that both camps will tread warily through the rest of this month as this game is broken down into its component parts and scrutinised for evidence and pointers for round two.

In that light, Horgan’s defiance is perfectly natural — manifesto of sorts even — as was his admission Cork would probably need to improve — but only by “a small bit” — by the time these two go at it again.

It wasn’t a case of Horgan being blind to Cork’s shortcomings. Nor to the reality of the hairy situation facing them with the third quarter completed and Clare boasting a five-point lead.

“With 15 minutes to go I thought it was going to be tough enough for us. They were really on top at the time, but we’re doing it all year, we have great fight in the team and we pulled it back and they were lucky to draw in the end, really.”

Eight points Horgan scored yesterday, the last of which came nearly two minutes into injury-time and seemed destined to be the winning of an All-Ireland for his county.

Hell, is it any wonder he was tetchy?