‘We were very lucky' – Cork GAA star reveals ‘role model' Patrick Horgan's touching gesture when he was starting hurling
On the grounds of a club that can boast Christy Ring as one of its heroes of the past, Downey spent countless hours honing his craft as a teenager.
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Robert Downey is one of three Glen players in the Cork team
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
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And he praised Patrick Horgan for making him feel welcome at the club
Credit: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
It has left him with fond memories of being invited to test himself against one of the Glen's senior stars — a man who is now a team-mate for both club and county.
And on Sunday at
Along with his younger brother Eoin, 22, and legendary forward Patrick Horgan, 37, captain Downey is one of three Glen players in the
Cork
team that will start against Munster rivals Tipperary.
And he said: 'When I was growing up, Hoggie was around with a hurley in his hand 24-7, so he was our role model.
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'We'd have always played in the ball alley as well in the Glen. We played squash with our hurleys and sliotars, just one touch.
'I can remember when I was very young, Hoggie would ask us to come in and play with him.
'The alley in the Glen would be bigger than a squash
court
— it's designed for that game specifically.
'We were lucky we had such close access to Hoggie. I can remember him an awful lot.'
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Being taken under the wing of a man destined for greatness helped Downey develop into a player deemed worthy of being entrusted with the honour of captaining his county.
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Downey, who bagged a sensational goal in the 2024 final loss to Clare, ended last season as an All-Star.
The ball-alley battles with the Rebels' elder statesman have paid dividends.
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He reflected: 'I just remember as young fellas he'd be in there with the senior team. We might have been 13 or 14 in the viewing area, watching him for hours and hours and he'd call us in. At that stage, the sliotar was worn out.
'We'd play with him for the last two or three games. But it gave us the bug to want to get to the levels he was at and to practise as hard as he did.
'And it's
funny
now, even in the off-season I could ring him or he could ring me and there'd be a few of us going to the alley again. We always find ourselves back there.'
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Horgan, hurling's all-time leading scorer, will hope his status as one of the greatest players never to win an All-Ireland medal expires this weekend.
Downey added: 'The nights we're not training with Cork, we're always up in the club watching Glen training. He's always there, still down pucking around.
'But even outside of that, he's always trying to get better at different aspects of his game. He's still as competitive as ever. It's great to have had him as a role model and still have him as a role model.'
In terms of their ongoing duels for supremacy on the Glen's de facto squash
court
, has Horgan always been the man to beat?
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Downey laughed: 'I remember beating him when I was quite young actually. In fairness to him, he's probably the best of us but I think I could give him a good run for it!'
As for the prospect of adding a coveted
Celtic
Cross to Horgan's haul of four All-Star awards, the captain said: 'Look, it would be lovely for him obviously.
'But at the end of the day, it's about the group and it's a group effort.
'It's a massive effort from everybody, not just players. But look, it would be lovely.'
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Irish Examiner
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Finnbarr Roarty's goal against Cavan and Ciarán Moore's major against Meath are great examples. For Kerry to win they will have to avoid these turnovers, but do it without blunting their attacking edge. They need to avoid being conservative and pedestrian and attack with pace, while being patient. Patience at pace. For Kerry to pull that zone apart, there are a number of considerations. Chief among them will be decision-making in possession. Where that zone thrives is when players take the ball into contact or when a player receives a sloppy pass. The Donegal boys are expertly drilled on this and pounce on their quarry to force those precious turnovers at the most opportune time - when their opponent is in a vulnerable position. Generally this season, when faced with a deep sitting team, Kerry have favoured setting the spare bodies up outside the defensive shield and punching holes when they can. Gavin White, Brian Ó Beaglaoich and Joe O'Connor are especially effective at this. Use this again but don't rely solely on it. Flood the full forward line and create space for those runners to break into and shoot. Alternatively, to mix it up they can push those outside bodies further up the pitch, inside the two point arc to engage the Donegal backs and the create more one-on-ones. Occupy and rob them of their sweepers. Force Donegal's host of converted half forwards to defend. Play through the zone with accuracy and in the direction they are facing. Set up a two-point shooter outside and when the Donegal defence collapses in to deal with a threat feed it back out to that shooter. Monaghan did exactly this to good effect in the first half of their quarter final encounter. Furthermore, Kerry can set up two-point shooters outside the arc and entice the Donegal defence towards them. If they are given space as against Armagh, shoot. If they push too aggressively is there a pop pass inside to set up a possible goal chance, which will be required to win? Use David Clifford when possible but don't force it his way when it's not on. In short, be ruthlessly efficient through a variety of methods. Be a nightmare to defend against. Kerry have the quality but can they execute accurately under pressure? An extension of that area is Donegal's awesome counter-attacking running game. The simple thing for Kerry to do is to rob them of turnovers and the momentum that generates by killing the ball. Armagh limited them to four points from turnovers in the Ulster final because of their efficiency, getting off 42 shots from 47 attacks. Against Meath, Donegal scored 1-5 from turnovers, with the Royals getting 31 shots from 43 attacks. Three of those shots dropped short, a cardinal sin against the Ulster champions. Their huge spread of scorers (generally ten plus players score for them) in part comes from those counter attacks. Reduce those and you reduce that challenging scoring spread. Tyrone were quite effective at exactly this, limiting Donegal to nine scorers, in the one game they have lost in championship this year. The second part of that turnover scenario is that when they do occur Kerry have to react instantly. It is a code red situation, with all hands to the pump. Track runners and get back in shape. Delay their attack and slow them down. If necessary give away a point but never a goal. Speaking of slowing Donegal down, when they do enter established 11 v 11 attacks they are excellent at opening up the right opportunity. They constantly run angles and wrap around each other to make sure they are probing while not over-committing. They wait for the opposition to switch off and pounce. The simple answer - harder at a human level - for the Kerry defence is never switch off, especially against this quality of opposition on the biggest day. Finally we come to Shaun Patton's kickout which will, as always, be a concern for Kerry. As well as his accuracy and distance, his unique trajectory off a couple of steps is a formidable weapon. This is his first All-Ireland though, and he has come under pressure in big games in the past. Kerry will need to press it when they can, after frees and established attacks, as giving kickouts up to Donegal is akin to giving a shot away, most of the time. When pressing they will be hyper-aware of the long one over the top and flick ons. They were extremely alert on this against Niall Morgan in the semi-final. Mark O'Shea competed manfully in the air and as soon as the ball was kicked, Joe O'Connor, Gavin White and others sprinted from their zones and anticipated the destination of the flick on. The Kingdom defenders will have to be ready for Michael Murphy's late move from the top of the traditional 'D' for this kickout and be ready to disrupt him on the ground and in the air. Up to this point they haven't used it as often as one would expect, but they may on Sunday. Similarly, the number of balls kicked into Murphy in the full forward line could be counted on one hand so far in championship but we may see an attempted 2012 reprise early in the match. All of this is only scratching the surface of what the teams have prepared for and what they are planning for. My wish for both sets of players is that they play to their potential and perform on one of the most special days of their sporting lives. Two great groups of players going at it will make for a fascinating contest, and a potentially cracking final, particularly the second half. We may need a second day to separate them, but Kerry to prevail. Eventually.
