Conor Fogarty 'setting the standards' for Kilkenny's All-Ireland title bid

READY: Conor Fogarty ready for the final. Pic Credit ©INPHO/Evan Treacy

Although tempting, it’s far too convenient to distil Conor Fogarty’s semi-final display down to that block. And frankly, it would be doing him a disservice to do so.

As critical and all as the block was, Fogarty’s semi-final shift had more than one string to it. And a shift it was. Says you, when is it never with the Erin’s Own midfielder.

In the five seconds before Fogarty produced a diving block on Mark Rodgers’ 22nd minute goal bound shot, he thundered into Peter Duggan and cut off Shane O’Donnell’s direct line to Eoin Murphy’s honey pot.

How he had the energy to do all that and still get back to deny Rodgers is beyond us. The one person not a bit surprised by all this Fogarty firefighting was Derek Lyng.

“Conor has always led by example and by his actions,” says the Kilkenny manager. “He prepares so well; and he performs. He’s a very reliable fella, brilliant character.

“You have important fellas in a dressing-room and he’s one of them because he sets the standards and that’s what you want. You want players like that who can drive the standards and lead by example. Conor has been doing that for a number of years now, and continues to do it.”

In the play directly after his block, Fogarty was to be found taking a pass from John Donnelly inside the opposition half and moving possession on just as quick to Mikey Butler. The latter was fouled for a converted TJ Reid free.

In the play after that, he cut off Tony Kelly’s attempted run down the Hogan Stand sideline. As the Clare playmaker turned back from Fogarty, he was immediately dispossessed by Tom Phelan. The play ended with another Kilkenny point.

His man-marking assignment was to curb the pace and vision of Ryan Taylor. During the 33 minutes before he departed injured, Taylor had no material influence.

Fogarty initially followed his replacement, corner-forward David Reidy. On 34 minutes, he was again to be found inside his own 20-metre line, preventing the Clare sub from lifting possession into his hand. The breaking ball was cleaned up by full-forward Reid.

Conor Fogarty. Pic credit: ©INPHO/Evan Treacy

It doesn’t matter where the work is for these Kilkenny veterans. And so long as the work gets done, 33-year-old Fogarty doesn’t mind if he’s seen more as a combatant than craftsman.

“You're not going out to play in any particular way. You're going out to give it your all and to get involved and work hard,” the midfielder explains of his straightforward approach.

Lyng spoke earlier about Fogarty's meticulous preparation. That shines through when the man in question informs you that he roped in sub Alan Murphy to help practice his blocking a couple of days before the Clare game.

The teacher was brought onto the panel by Brian Cody in 2011. His father Martin was selector at the time. That didn’t buy him any favours or a fast-track ticket, mind. It was 2014 before he claimed a starting berth.

In 2013, his three Leinster championship appearances came at corner-back. In 2014, two of his three League appearances came at corner-back. The other was at half-back.

He didn’t feature in Kilkenny's opening two games of that summer’s Leinster championship. Their third was the semi-final replay against Galway. Named to start at midfield alongside Richie Hogan was Fogarty. And there he has remained.

“It might have been a little bit out of the blue, alright. I'd spent a lot of my career playing in the backs. I probably had a good level of fitness at the time. Brian just took a chance and said, maybe he's a good engine in him, so let's put him out there and give him a go. Luckily enough I had a decent enough game that day and kicked on afterwards.”

2014 ended with him an All-Ireland winning starter. It’s one of four medals he’s picked up along the way.

Having failed to make the first 15 for last year’s final, Fogarty has reasserted himself under the new man in. The last box to tick is to reassert the old order and return Kilkenny to the summit after eight years away.

“Once you win one, you certainly want to try and repeat that again. This All-Ireland is just as important as the first All-Ireland I was involved in,” he continues.

“The few years don't be long moving by. You'd obviously be hugely disappointed to have lost a couple. I wouldn't get irritated by it, but you'd be hoping that it would drive you on. That's all you can do with it. And hope that it adds fuel to your fire moving forward.”

This is one engine never low on diesel.