He's regarded as Henry Shefflin's successor. He's the current Hurler of the Year and he was Kilkenny's highest scorer from play in the Semi-Final against Waterford.
But the prodigious talent was not always the towering hurler he is now. Writing in the Irish Independent today, former Offaly player Michael Verney recounts the battles he shared with Richie Hogan and the measures he employed to get the better of him.
They first met at minor level when Hogan dazzled Verney with his swift step and technical majesty.
I went to deliver the bone-crunching tackle but a jaw-dropping dummy handpass caught me hook, line and sinker and he goaled spectacularly.
But the opportunity for revenge arrived some months later and this time Verney made no mistake in the tackle.
With Hogan careering towards me at speed, thou shalt not pass rang through my head. As the ball left his hand for the now 'signature' move, I stood my ground. Not this time. I didn't fall for it and instead he crumbled to the turf a broken man. Substituted, savaged and hospitalised.
The pair met once again on Inter-County duty in 2008. And by this stage Verney was intent on stiffling Hogan's agility with no regard for the consequences of his methods.
Pulling, dragging and largely forgetting about the ball often occupy the brain. It's eat or be eaten and there was no way I was going to be feasted upon again.We resembled sardines given our proximity and I was intent to halt his progress by fair or foul means
And for Verney's part, the tactics worked. Hogan failed to impose himself on the game and was substituted towards the end of the game with just a point to his credit.
But the Richie Hogan of these times cuts the figure of hurler who has evolved from those fragile days and is now regarded as Shefflin's successor. And Verney is now questioning if Galway have the depth and substance to quell the might of a transformed Hogan:
No team has found an answer in recent memory and for Galway to claim their first title since 1988, they must shut him out. Someone will have to be nominated as a sacrificial lamb
So the question remains - is dominating Richie Hogan the key to unlocking Kilkenny and if so have Galway got the stuff to do so?
