Kilkenny hurler Richie Hogan joined OTB AM this morning to preview this weekend's All Ireland hurling final - and touched on all manner of topics.

Hogan talked us through his beautiful goal against Galway, and why it took on special resonance in the autumn of his career.

Richie Hogan on goal

Richie Hogan shows his incredible skill with this super GOAL for @KilkennyCLG pic.twitter.com/563lTLY3pa

— The GAA (@officialgaa) November 14, 2020

"I saw Daithí Burke - I know that when you get caught on the wrong side of him, he is probably going to catch you.

"I just tried to play it in behind - I could see there was space [there] - so tried to play it in behind and react quickly to it. The goalkeeper was coming off his line and I just knew that I was going to beat him to it.

"When he was coming out, I could see that he was coming out to try and block the ball, so rather than pull on it as I normally would, I just tried to flick it past him. It just popped up.

"Then I realised he wasn't in the goal as quickly as possible."

Richie Hogan on Croke Park red

Hogan denies inspiration by Dennis Bergkamp but does say that it was a 'redemption story' given that his last Championship outing at Croke Park ending in a sending off against Tipperary.

"You want to brush [the experience] aside as quickly as possible. It was a horrible thing to experience; it has only happened to a handful of people.

"When you train hard, you like to get some of the better moments. Before that red card last year, it was a very frustrating season for me anyway.

"The worst part of it happened at the very end, and then you have such a long break before your next competitive Championship game. It is amazing that playing in an All Ireland final then it is nearly 18 months before you get to play in Croke Park again.

"It made it even better - a redemption story if you like - but it was just fantastic to have better memories in Croke Park than the last time I was there."

Future

So what of the future?

Hogan said that cautionary tales of managing fitness and age did not register until such a time as he experienced it himself and 'you see it in front of your face'. Perversely, lockdown has proved a major boost to his fitness, where he now feels 'the fittest ever'.

Hogan began to realise that playing below were not going to further the Kilkenny cause, and that it was all or nothing in terms of his participation - but how to tell Brian Cody that?

"He has had that conversation with me! We had that conversation about 18 months ago, and a couple of years before that as well but I was struggling to buy into it.

"You learn from experience, where you go and play when you're not 100% and it doesn't go right for you and you come in saying 'this isn't worth it.'

"You have to lose that short-sightedness. Brian would have had that conversation with me, rather than me having it with him. Brian is very good that way - he will come to you because he knows that it is difficult for a player to go to his manager and make demands or requests.

"He knows that, and I never do that with Kilkenny either. Brian has worked with me long enough that he knows what sort of a character I am. He knows that he can come to me and let me know what he thinks is best.

"Most of that would come from Brian in terms of knowing what his players need."

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