At the beginning of the year Robbie Hogan questioned whether or not he would return for a fourth season in charge of the Ballyea senior hurlers, little did he think that he would preparing the troops for a Munster Final in the month of November.
“It’s unreal, it doesn’t look like November it’s more like a spring day, they’re just a credit everyone of them, the club, the supporters it’s just a fantastic place to be at the minute” Robbie told The Clare Herald in the moments after Sunday’s epic extra time win over Thurles Sarsfields. “It’s unreal, it’ll take a while to sink in, we’re still sinking in that we’re county champions and a Munster Final now it’s unbelievable stuff”.
Early on Hogan and his management had to revert to plan b as they lost Brian Carrigg and Martin O’Leary to injury. “It was a hammerblow, only a few minutes up on the clock and you’re looking to fellas that will normally impact later on in the game, it just tested the panel and the group of lads that train all year for maybe that five or ten minutes but in fairness they answered the call when they came in”.
Hogan was very pleased that when Ballyea were up against it his players kept the heads and focused on doing their bit to win back possession. “The team they are they’d put you and a bit like damage limitation for a while they were seven up and whizzing the ball around the place. Credit to the lads they didn’t panic, they sticked to the game plan and working on our hooking and blocking”.
Both Gary Brennan and Tony Kelly captained their county in 2016, Robbie was very impressed with the showing of the duo. “Gary Brennan if he can get the third or fourth stride going there’s very few that will stay with him and a genuine leader, he ran at them the Maher’s there, a super finish he set it up for Burkey but it still had to be scored after Gary made the run so it was a super effort”.
“The last day people say he was kept quiet but when push came to shove and the last three scores were needed Tony Kelly chipped in with two of them, he’s a serious lad and any manager that would see him coming in to their team would say they’re in with a chance of winning something, he’s a great lad”.