‘The Lads Died With Their Boots On’ – Hogan hails Harps effort

THE Harps’ boss Ken Hogan was immensely proud of his players after their Leinster Club SHC quarter-final loss at the hands of Kilkenny kingpins Ballyhale Shamrocks on Sunday afternoon.

Hogan’s men came in as huge underdogs against the twelve-time Leinster club champions, but they gave a great account of themselves and had their opponents under pressure on a few occasions.

After the match Hogan said, “It was an interesting game, loads of chances, we got huge opportunities and we played very well.

“1-16 was probably our lowest score of the year, we did create the chances but we didn’t convert them and that wins games.

“You saw the experience of TJ down the other end, huge experience, probably the best forward of all time and he showed it again today, and that was the difference.

“We’re a young team and learning after winning their first county final and I thought the lads worked their socks off and they stayed at it right to the end.” Ballyhale was the toughest draw that The Harps could have gotten but Hogan reckons regardless of who you get in the Leinster championship it’s going to be a tough battle.

“If you’re a county champion in any county you deserve merit and I think any club that’s going out in the quarterfinals today, they’ll be all good matches, strong matches,” he insisted.

“This is all a learning curve for our lads, a lot of them are just eighteen or nineteen years old.

“After winning your county championship, you bask in the glory of winning it and maybe you just don’t adapt in time for the toughness of Leinster Club Championship.

“They’re all seasoned players right across their backline, up front they have three or four top notch winners but from our point of view I felt the lads died with their boots on.

“We did create opportunities and I’m glad about that, we might not have taken them but that’s experience.” Frees seemed hard to come by at times for The Harps, though Hogan told us there’s plenty of learning to be done by this very young group in the coming years.

“Ballyhale will be the first to admit they got away with a few things, but from our perspective we can’t ask for more, it’s been a savage year, a strong year and a few of the youngsters still have to play U20 championship and they can look forward to that.

“It’s a huge adventure for us this year but we know next year The Harps will come out and every club in Laois will be trying to dethrone them so that’s the beauty of sport.

“You earn it, you don’t deserve anything, you’ve got to earn it.” 

Hogan was also glad to see a huge turnout to support his men and praised the clubs across the county, saying, ”They’re all top class team and top clash parishes with huge pride in their hurling.

“I was very impressed with the support we got today from the people of Laois, they came in their droves with a huge support right through the match.

“We’re very grateful for that as well.” Never one to take plaudits himself, the Tipperary native heaped praise on his group of players for their work throughout the year.

“A good year overall, delighted with it, the lads will be disappointed with today but that’s momentarily, they’ll move on with college, work and Christmas is coming soon.

“We’re playing in the month of November and lads will go back into the county set up and do their S&C and get ready for that.

“Overall, I cannot question the commitment of the lads they were absolutely unbelievable, they gave our backroom team and the club everything.

“The panel were absolutely brilliant and everyone backed each other all the way through.” When asked if he’ll be returning to the fold next year, he provided a very political answer.

“You never know!

“Maybe I’m superfluous to the situation now at this stage, I might be overage!”, he said with a smile.