Patrick Horgan pictured at Sports Direct’s and Cork GAA’s Championship Preview live event at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Dan SheridanAll Ireland winning Cork captain Tomás Mulcahy says Patrick Horgan deserves time and space to consider his intercounty future.
The Championship's all time leading scorer started on the bench in the quarter final defeat to Galway on Saturday, playing the second half. It was the second game in a row the Glen Rovers clubman didn't make the starting 15.
The 34 year old has been in the senior set up for the past 14 years, and there had been some speculation that the forward may call time on his career in the red shirt of Cork.
Speaking on the Big Red Bench yesterday, Mulcahy says that nobody can make the call only Horgan himself - and he deserves time to consider it.
"I know people will be saying about Patrick Horgan, 'he's there since 2008, 14 years on - is his time up at this stage?'
"I think it would only be right and fitting for me to say that there's nobody else can make the choice whether he wants to stay or not than Patrick Horgan - he deserves that himself.
"He's probably more gutted than anybody else the way it finished [against Galway], and he deserves that bit of time. If it is to be the end, let him make that call. If it's not and he wants to go again, let him make that call.
"He knows that time is not on his side, he knows the situation, whether he can become an impact sub. But I think that needs to be explained to him from the outset, and I think that needs to be explained to him that if he's starting then an impact sub will come in and take his place.
"I think he deserves that bit of space to make that call, he's given so much to Cork hurling. For me, I'm a club colleague of his, I think he's the greatest since Christy Ring. Christy was an unbelievable Glen Rovers man, and Patrick is the same as well.
"What he's given over the last 14 years has been just incredible. He's no different to anyone else, when you lose an All Ireland Quarter Final it's hard, defeat is hard to take."
You can listen to the full interview with Tomás Mulcahy on the Big Red Bench Podcast below
