Kilkenny star Hogan suffers collapsed lung

Kilkenny forward Richie Hogan is facing a spell on the sidelines after sustaining a serious injury in yesterday's landslide league win over Galway.

Hogan collided with Galway goalkeeper Jamie Ryan in the final minutes of the game at Nowlan Park, and had to be carried off on a stretcher.

He was taken to hospital where he has been detained with a collapsed lung. The painful injury will rule the Danesfort clubman out for at least four weeks.

He will miss Kilkenny's league semi-final against the Division 1B champions, either Clare or Limerick, on April 22, and is unlikely to be fit for a possible Division 1 final on May 6.

The Cats finished top of the Division 1A table on the back of their 3-26 to 0-10 hammering of Galway, with manager Brian Cody admitting afterwards: "We played well, definitely. We got into the game early.

"We got a couple of good scores, got a couple of goals early, which is a big thing obviously. The last 20 minutes the game was just played out really. It was just a question of getting to the end of the game really.

"We're glad to be through to the league semi-finals, it's going to be a great match to be getting again.

"I think we're going to be playing either Clare or Limerick now at this stage, and they're probably teams we haven't met an awful lot of over the last number of years, and they're going to be a big challenge. We're very much looking forward to it," he told RTÉ Sport.