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9th July 2018
05:23pm BST

'That's why we need Richie out there, he's been there, he's a leader and our young lads need that experience beside them' said the Dicksboro woman beside me in the stands.It was something small but with Kilkenny chasing the game, it would boil down to fine margins like these. Galway couldn't be let have anything handy again and with Hogan around they wouldn't be. The diminutive Danesfort star is a leader. The second half of Kilkenny and Galway's Leinster final replay was an awful lot different to the first and Richie Hogan had a massive part to play in that. Introduced as a half-time substitute, he announced his introduction quicker than the PA man in the home of hurling could when he came out of the ruck from the throw-in, and tossed an inviting handpass out to James Maher to score from.
'Two substitutes on the Kilkenny team, number 21 Richie Hogan replaces Richie Leahy and 22 Colin Fennelly replaces Billy Ryan.'And the Kilkenny crowd were giddy. Richie has done it so many times before for them and players like him just lift them. He went into the centre and TJ out to the wing. Galway's half back line who dominated so much in that first half were in for it now. Another ball came his way four minutes later and he got there in front of Joe Canning, flicked a hurl at it and manipulated it into his stride gracefully. He drew the free from Canning, let out a fist-pump and jostled into Padraig Mannion. Richie was up for it, Kilkenny were up for it. TJ Reid pointed that one, of course, and the gap was down to five. This is Kilkenny we're dealing with. Kilkenny are a young team this year and those youngsters have done extremely well. They've kept Richie out of the team since he's returned from that back injury he suffered at the end of last year. https://twitter.com/RoryJacob/status/1015986128485273601 In fairness, they've earned their spots too. Richie Leahy pointed the way when they needed him against Wexford and Billy Ryan, Keoghan, Sheehan and Scanlon have all impressed at different stages. On that same day against Wexford, Richie was poor. He hit four wides early on and was called ashore at half-time. Brian Cody doesn't give a damn about reputations and the form players will always be picked. Now, it looks like Hogan is the form player and Cody will find it hard to leave him out against Limerick. Back to the game because five minutes later, Hogan pointed a trademark long-ranger and he was setting his men up for the puckout before it had even passed the black spot.
Fast forward another two minutes and Richie rattled the net with a rasper of a goal.
https://twitter.com/officialgaa/status/1015977797418876929
He was dragging Kilkenny back into this one and the Galway crowd quietened.
Hogan hit a couple of wides after that but he never dropped the head. He knows how good he is and he'll always have the confidence to take them on.
Galway kicked on to win it, but don't underestimate how much it means to Kilkenny to have Richie Hogan back.Explore more on these topics: