John Horgan (hurler)
John Horgan (25 May 1950 – 10 June 2016) was an Irish hurler whose league and championship career with the Cork senior team spanned twelve years from 1969 to 1981.
[3] Born near Barrack Street on the south side of Cork city, Horgan was introduced to hurling by his father, a county junior championship medal winner with Blackrock.
He developed his skills at Sullivan's Quay CBS while simultaneously coming to prominence at underage levels with the Passage club, before transferring to Blackrock in 1968.
A torrential downpour before the game made conditions very difficult and tempers boiled over with Simon Murphy and Charlie Cullinane being sent to the line.
Charlie McCarthy completed his hat-trick to give St. Finbarr's the lead early in the second half, however, Blackrock's youth and fitness were key in securing a 2-19 to 5-4 victory.
Due to the unsporting manner of the contest the Cork County Board later fined the two teams a combined total of £30 and suspended five players, including Horgan, for a period of two months.
This suspension had little impact on Blackrock's subsequent Munster Championship campaign, with Horgan being reinstated by the time his side faced Moyne-Templetuohy in the provincial decider.
A ten-minute period of dominance by Blackrock yielded only three points, while Quigley completed his hat-trick with a goal from a 21-yards free to give Rathnure a one-point lead.
The first half saw a number of unsavoury incidents, with John O'Halloran (Blackrock) and Mick Mooney (Rathnure) becoming the first players ever to be sent off in an All-Ireland club final.
The half-back line of Frank Cummins, Horgan and Dermot McCurtain closed down the Glen attack and contributed greatly to the 4-11 to 0-10 victory.
Blackrock entered the All-Ireland final on 14 March 1976 and got off to a great start as Éamonn O'Donoghue scored a goal inside the first minute.
Once again the Rockies stormed through the provincial championship and defeated Newmarket-on-Fergus by 3-8 to 1-8 in the decider, giving Horgan a fourth Munster medal.
Blackrock appeared to have the game wrapped up when Tom Lyons whipped through a goal to leave them 14 points ahead with just a quarter of an hour left to play.
Horgan scored three trademark long-range points from centre-back and collected an All-Ireland medal as Cork avenged the 1966 defeat with a 2-15 to 5-3 victory.
Horgan was moved to corner-back in 1971, as the Cork under-21 team set out to secure a remarkable fourth successive All-Ireland title.
Horgan, at left corner-back, came in for praise with the other members of the full-back line - Tony Maher and Pat McDonnell - in quelling the Wexford attack.
Cork won the two-leg series of game on an aggregate score of 5-21 to 6-16, with Horgan adding a National Hurling League medal to his collection.
He was returned to the team for a league game against Clare in the opening rounds of the 1972-73 season, before regaining his place on Cork's championship starting fifteen.
After his poor performance in the provincial decider, Horgan was dropped from the starting fifteen in favour of Pat Barry for Cork's All-Ireland final meeting with Wexford on 5 September 1976.
Wexford had a two-point lead with ten minutes to go, however, three points from Jimmy Barry-Murphy, two from Pat Moylan and a held effort from Ray Cummins gave Cork a 2–21 to 4–11 victory.
Cork qualified for a Munster final meeting with Clare, on a day when armed robbers made away with the takings from the gate of £24,579 during the second half of the game.
A contentious red card for full-back Jim Power turned the tide for Cork and they fought on win by 4–15 to 4–10, with Horgan collecting a fourth winners' medal.
[16] The subsequent All-Ireland decider on 4 September 1977 was a repeat of the previous year as Wexford stood in the way of a second successive title for Cork.
Seánie O'Leary played the game with a broken nose after being hit in the face by a sliotar in a pre-match warm-up while the two oldest men on the team, Denis Coughlan and Gerald McCarthy, gave noteworthy displays.
Horgan retained the left corner-back berth in 1978, adding attack to the defensive position by scoring three points against Waterford in the Munster semi-final.
Cork had a relatively easy passage through the provincial series of games, with Horgan winning a sixth Munster medal following a 2-14 to 0-9 trouncing of Limerick.
Age and the exertions of the three previous campaigns finally caught up with Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final and a 2–14 to 1–13 defeat by Galway brought the four-in-a-row dream to an end.
While the standard of hurling was regarded as poor, Horgan gave a sound display in the full-back line once again, including scoring a point from 104 yards.
Goals from Joe McKenna and Noel Casey proved the difference, with Horgan collecting a second Railway Cup medal following a 3-13 to 1-11 victory.
For much of the next twenty years Horgan played no part as a coach at either club or county level, however, he ended his self-imposed retirement when he took charge of the Castlyons senior team in 2001.
