Kilkenny SHC Final- Delight and elation for Hogan and Deegan

As first years in club management go, it couldn’t have gone much better for O’Loughlin Gaels boss Brian Hogan.

He took over from Andy Comerford after last year’s championship campaign and has brought the Tom Walsh Cup back to St John’s Park.

“There’s no feeling like it,” the manager beamed. “You can’t beat it.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to experience it a couple of times as a player and obviously now I’m on the other side of it.

“It’s unreal and I’m so delighted for the lads.”

When O’Loughlin Gaels last captured Kilkenny championship success in 2016, ironically it was Hogan who collected the cup after captaining his team to victory over Shamrocks.

The county winning boss compares the feeling of winning as manager and a player.

“Nothing compares to playing and that’s just the reality of it, but at the same time you still get the same emotions - it’s just that you can’t take them out on the field.

“It does feel like I’m after hurling the game myself but it’s the next closest thing and I’m so happy for all the lads and the club itself. It’s just brilliant.”

Hogan was very much still in the zone afterwards but was full of delight at the same time on the back of his team’s excellent display.

“I probably need to watch the match back but I suppose it was nip and tuck all the way and we knew that was always going to be the way.

“It was a game that we had to go and win and take it as it was never going to be given to us.

“Ballyhale have been outstanding champions and we’ve huge respect for them but we felt that if we could bring our best performance and apply ourselves in the right way that we’d a great chance and that’s how it panned out.

“We spoke about the character in this group and when it came down to the wire that character shone through and I suppose all our players stood up and took big plays.”

The O’Loughlin Gaels manager’s elation was shared by Paddy Deegan who hit the match-winning point.

“I haven’t scored a winning point before, so I don’t know what I was doing up in that part of the field,” he smiled. “I got the ball on my left. A lot of the boys slag me that I can only hit off my left. I just gave it a shot and it went over.”

Deegan knows more than most about the pain that the club have felt in recent years and how much it means to be top dogs in Kilkenny.

“It is a great day, a massive day for the club,” he said. “We have had a few disappointing years. We got to the county final two years ago and were beaten. Last year we were knocked out in the opening round.

“It was 12 months coming. There was a lot of hurt there last year. It was building and building and thankfully we got over it.”

“The Shamrocks take some beating. They are incredible. What they have done over the last five or six years is incredible. You could have nothing but respect for them.”

Next up is the Leinster Championship quarter-final on Sunday week against Mount Leinster Rangers but there’ll be plenty of celebrating to be done in the meantime!