HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP LAUNCH:THE FIVE-in-a-row. Five in succession. The drive for five. Five times back-to-back. If Brian Hogan thought he could escape yesterday's hurling launch without fielding questions on Kilkenny's potential to rewrite history then he was greatly mistaken – although he did in fairness do his best to deny it.
The reality, said Hogan, is that all of Kilkenny’s motivation for this summer comes from within individual players, and from that perspective 2010 is no different to any other year.
“Of course it will be bandied about by everyone. But honestly, for us it’s just another championship. Brian Cody has always said that if an All-Ireland in its own right isn’t enough to motivate you then you have a problem. That’s why we started hurling, to play for Kilkenny first of all, and to play in an All-Ireland second of all, and then to win it. From my own perspective that’s the drive. It’s really an individual thing, and if a player finds it extra motivation then fine, use it. Generally speaking within the camp we don’t talk about it.
“Of course the longer you’re there, the more teams want to knock you off your perch. We’d be the same if the roles were reversed. Every team will be a threat if you’re not right yourselves.”
Their first championship match is still over five weeks away, against Dublin, Carlow or Laois on June 20th, and Hogan agreed there is perhaps more uncertainty about Kilkenny this year compared to the previous four: “We were untouchable two years ago, according to some people. And now we’re on the way out. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but you just can’t listen to that. It’s only within the camp, the players and management, who really know how we’re going. To be honest over the league I don’t think we were missing that much. If we’d beaten Galway in Nowlan Park we’d have been in the final. There are obviously some things to work on, but I wouldn’t say it’s doom and gloom.”
Since 2007, Hogan has been first choice centre-back, although these days there is less certainly too about Kilkenny’s starting 15, particularly after they failed to reach the league final: “It was the same ambition going in this year,” he explained, “to get to the final, and win it. I’ve never been involved with a Kilkenny panel that hasn’t gone out to win every match.
“Okay, for one reason or another we didn’t win, but in fairness I think the best two teams during the league did make the final, in Cork and Galway. We were disappointed, and it was unusual sitting there watching a league final. But Brian Cody never once pulled any of us aside, or questioned us.
“The players will question themselves. There’s a lot of senior players on the team. And they know the score. We know ourselves we were slightly off the pace in a lot of the matches, and we have six weeks to put that right.”
