Hogan: Wexford have taken the physical battle to new level
Wexford have taken the physical battle for possession to a level beyond even Kilkenny’s great four-in-a-row All-Ireland winners, believes former Cats captain Brian Hogan. Speaking on the Irish Examiner GAA Podcast, Hogan was struck by Wexford’s ability to crowd the man on the ball in Sunday’s Leinster final.
“The thing that struck me, when the ref threw in the ball, Huw (Lawlor) was on the 21 waiting for his man to come in and his man wasn’t coming in. The rest of the Kilkenny backs and all the Wexford forwards were congested around where the ball was thrown in. Literally there was nobody from the 65 in to Eoin Murphy. It was like in the old days when a priest used come out and throw in the ball.
“It was like an U12 match where all the players follow the ball to one side of the pitch. You’re constantly telling young lads to spread out and go into space. But that’s the way the game has gone. It’s about winning the collisions, winning the dirty ball. That’s what we’d always have put an emphasis on but it’s gone to another level now.”
A potential All-Ireland quarter-final with Cork is an ideal fixture for Kilkenny, believes Hogan, who put some poor decision-making in Sunday’s final down to inexperience.
In the Wexford Park game, I thought some of the younger lads, through inexperience maybe, were diving in giving a way a few silly frees.
“For example, Richie Leahy chased Lee Chin down the wing, did the hard part, made up the ground and then put the hurl in around the neck. So it was decision making I was looking for, to make the right decisions at the right time. And on Sunday, at crucial stages, we probably didn’t make the right decisions.”
Hogan rued the “bit of panic” Kilkenny showed in the closing minutes, when they chased a goal rather that pick off points to shave the deficit.
“There was plenty of time, take your points. It’s a case of someone saying, lads calm it down.”
He believes a clash with Cork, should John Meyler’s side overcome Westmeath next Sunday, is ideal to speed Kilkenny’s development.
“I think it’s a great fixture for Kilkenny. Cork-Kilkenny matches are always great matches. You don’t want an easier draw. Where this team is at in terms of their development, you want to keep challenging them. A huge challenge, in Cork, the history, the rivalry, possibly in Thurles. Brian Cody will build up those players over the next two weeks for a huge contest.
“It’ll be a different type of challenge, because Cork play a different way. But any team that Brian is over will die with their boots on.”
In contrast to some of Kilkenny’s impetuosity, Hogan felt Wexford showed more composure at Croke Park and were deserved winners.
“I have to say Wexford were the better team. They did look a bit further on in terms of their development, physically and hurling-wise. They looked that bit more powerful and deserved their win.
“In a pressurised situation Wexford wasted nothing, but uncharacteristically, in the last 15 minutes, Kilkenny wasted a lot of ball.
“In Wexford Park, in the first 15 mins, Wexford lorried ball down on top of Pádraig Walsh and Joey Holden. They had a pain in their arm catching balls. But they didn’t make that mistake again. They learned from that. And the result was we couldn’t get Pádraig into the game. They nullified him.
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