Broken finger ends Hogan's final hopes

Kilkenny defender Brian Hogan will miss Sunday's week's All-Ireland SHC final against Tipperary due to a broken finger.

The O'Loughlin Gaels clubman has had a cruel run of luck with injuries of late.

He picked up a shoulder injury during the Cats' 3-22 to 0-19 win over Cork in the All Ireland-semi-final on August 8.

Then, on Wednesday night, he suffered a recurrence of a finger injury during a training session at Nowlan Park.

The finger break was confirmed this evening by Kilkenny selector Martin Fogarty on RTE Radio 1's Drivetime programme.

"It's a tough one on Brian, his finger is broken," he said.

"It happened simply enough as he got it caught in another player's jersey, and he is now unfortunately ruled out for the All-Ireland final."

Fogarty spoke with the 29-year-old today following a visit to a specialist, with Hogan putting his injury in perspective.

"Typical of the man himself he said today that it's just sport, and that you are reading about real tragedies every day of the week in the papers.

"His injury, he says, is just one of these things that happens in sport and he'll drive it on from the sidelines as he can do.

"It's tough, but unfortunately these things happen in sport."

Fogarty does not believe Hogan will recover in time for the final, unlike Henry Shefflin who is making a much quicker-than-expected recovery from a knee injury.

"The medical word is that there is no chance of Brian taking part," he said.

"That's the medical word and it's unfortunate for him, but the show has to move on.

"Somebody else will get the opportunity to step in there and drive on the team."

Fogarty was not keen to be drawn on Hogan's replacement, but it is likely that John Tennyson, who is winning his battle with a knee injury, could step into the breach.

"It's all up for grabs now. We'll do a little bit of training tomorrow and we'll see how things are and we'll get down to it during the week and put 15 players on a piece of paper to start the All-Ireland.

"It could be anybody. Plenty of players will step up to grab the chance and step into that berth that Brian has held so well."

When pressed on whether Tennyson would fill the void, Fogarty said: "If John comes through he has as good a chance as the next person.

"I wouldn't pre-empt it at this stage, but he will certainly be doing all in his power to get in there as will several other players."