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Horgan: celebrating a late score. ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Pa Horgan: I was sure injury-time point had clinched Liam

Horgan finished with 10 points but saw his late score cancelled out by Domhnall O’Donovan’s heroics.

PATRICK HORGAN THOUGHT that his injury-time point was the winner for Cork in an enthralling All-Ireland senior hurling final.

Horgan, who bagged 10 points, knocked over a sensational point in the first minute of stoppage time and possession was with the Rebels soon after when Luke O’Farrell hassled Patrick Kelly out over the sideline.

Stephen Moylan cut the resultant lineball wide and that allowed Clare one last attack, from which Domhnall O’Donovan lofted over a magnificent equalising score from the Cusack Stand touchline.

But Horgan, 25, was certain that his second point from play had ensured a 31st Liam MacCarthy Cup success for the Rebels.

He said: “Definitely, yeah. We got a point and sure when we got the sideline down in the corner the two minutes were up. You should be winning really but they were always going to get a chance.”

Horgan admitted that the final whistle left an empty feeling and a sense of anti-climax.

But he noted: “Yeah, it’ll be the same for them like. There’s nothing you can do about it really, it was a close game.

We’ve three weeks now and we’ll just have to drive on again I suppose.

The feeling from Horgan is that Cork should not have let the game slip after getting ahead for the one and only time in the game.

The Glen Rovers hitman conceded: “We’re obviously not delighted with the draw having been a point up with time up. We’ll just have to work hard again for the next three weeks.

We were chasing it for a while and it didn’t look good but we showed good fight to bring it back.

Clare’s pre-match tactics did not surprise Horgan, as Davy Fitzgerald abandoned the sweeper system that had served the Banner County so well in their previous outings against Limerick and Galway.

He said: “Not really, no. They set up for an open game of hurling.

“They’re the same as us, they’re a fast team moving everywhere so they knocked up a lot of scores, I don’t know how many points they got. It’ll be the same again in three weeks.”

Horgan bristled at suggestions that Clare performed better than Cork, pointing out that it was the Leesiders who scored all three goals.

He replied: “We got three goals. You’re criticising us all year for not getting goals. We get three and then you’re saying they’re better than us.”

And Horgan also rejected suggestions that the occasion may have affected Cork in a negative sense.

Sure we were up by a point, how could it get to us? We were two seconds away from winning an All-Ireland so I don’t know what you’re all going on about really.

But Horgan did acknowledge that Clare were coming on strong with 15 minutes remaining, as Colin Ryan’s free opened up a five-point advantage, 0-21 to 1-13.

He said: “Yeah, with 15 minutes to go I thought it was going to be tough enough for us. They were really on top at the time but we’re doing it all year, we have great fight in the team and we pulled it back and they were lucky to draw in the end really.”

5 Talking Points – Cork |5 Talking Points – Clare

‘Cork are going to be laughing’: Davy Fitz gives Rebels upper hand for All-Ireland replay

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