Though the Cork hurling panel knew John Meyler's initial two-year term as manager was up following the county's hurling championship exit last month, there was still mystery as to whether or not he would stay on. That Meyler was gone two weeks after the defeat to Kilkenny came as a shock.
"He was brilliant," said Patrick Horgan regarding Meyler.
The Cork full-forward was named PwC Player of the Month for the second time this season - this time for July - in Dublin on Wednesday.
"The same as any manager, he wanted the best for his players. A nice fella, always up for the laugh when it's time to have a laugh but serious when needs be too.
"He told us that a lot; that he really believes that we can do it [win an All-Ireland], and we’re good enough to do it.
"It's just unfortunate when we got onto the field - especially against Kilkenny - that we just weren't good enough. That's something we have to take on ourselves and get better."
PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for July, hurler Patrick Horgan of Cork, wasat PwC offices in Dublin today to pick up his award. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Cork have already begun the process of appointing Meyler's successor. Horgan said the players will have no say regarding the appointment.
I think it's gone so professional now on all levels that there's no one just going to get put in for no reason. They're going to be put in because they're really strong and qualified for the job. We won't have anything to do with it, like. We'll be told who the manager is and that'll be it. We're good with that.
Kilkenny's margin of victory in the quarter-final was six points. That was not due to lack of contribution from Horgan. The Glen Rovers man scored a remarkable 3-10, 2-2 of it from play.
"It’s like it hadn’t even happened," said Horgan regarding his personal tally.
"When you lose, everyone is so down, there’s no positive from the game. Usually the positive is you’re back Tuesday night at training talking about the game, not this time.
"We played all the hurling in the first half and you look up at the scoreboard at half-time and you’re two points up. You’re thinking ‘we had the ball for the whole half, how is that even possible?’ And then we just fell asleep for 15 minutes.
"They obviously tweaked something and it took us 15 minutes to figure it out and by the time we did, it was something like six, seven points. We got it back to three but then we missed a chance or two to keep the scoreboard going. We left a lot of it after us, we’re better than that."
The 31-year-old has never been one for watching games in which he isn't involved - he doesn't see much value in it. That was especially true when it came to this year's All-Ireland semi-finals.
"To be fair, I didn’t watch them. I was down in Dingle that weekend. I couldn’t watch them, it would have been a bit of a downer."
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