Hogan looks at bigger picture

Hurler of the Year favourite Richie Hogan didn’t disguise his disappointed with his own performance in the final.

Substituted, just as he was in the first game when he cramped up, the Danefort man quickly ruled out injury as the reason for his substitution for Henry Shefflin in the 57th minute.

“No, no. It wasn’t an injury, no,” said Hogan. “Shefflin tried savage hard and made a difference. I wasn’t injured for a start. It just didn’t really go well, but sure hopefully there will be more days. I thought I started very well [scoring Kilkenny’s first two points]. I got on a lot of ball and I suppose there was a lot of space up there and we were playing well. Once Tipp got on top then they started falling back and back and back and getting a bit more defensive.

“Myself and Padraic Maher were kind of out of it for a long time. There were balls going over our heads. The game was so fast then we got caught between it. All of those things are sideline. The result is just unbelievable. The whole year was just fantastic for myself and hurling in general.”

Hogan took a lot of pleasure from being able to set right what went wrong last season after which some were scripting Kilkenny’s epitaph.

“I don’t think we were as overwhelming favourites coming into this year as we have been in other years so this one is unbelievably sweet. A lot of lads wrote us off especially after Cork and Clare produced such good hurling last year. They said we didn’t have the pace for it.

“It’s not about proving anyone wrong; it’s about proving to ourselves that we are up there with the best of them.”