The idea of looking back on his Kilkenny hurling career rather than forward was an alien concept to Richie Hogan prior to his retirement in September.
Hogan had a 17-year Kilkenny senior career, winning seven All-Ireland titles, four All-Stars and a Hurler of the Year award in 2014.
Those seven All-Ireland title wins all came in the first nine years of his career. The last eight seasons have been barren ones for Hogan and Kilkenny when it came to the Liam MacCarthy Cup. If he could flip his career to have the success at the end rather than the beginning, the 35-year-old thinks he'd be even happier.
4 December 2023; Hurling analyst Richie Hogan in attendance at the 2024 GAAGO match schedule launch at Croke Park in Dublin. Fans can avail of 38 exclusive matches in Ireland for €69 up until December 31st. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
"When you're in the midst of playing you want to win every single year and every year that you don't win you're not just disappointed, you're kind of driven to go again," Hogan said at the launch of GAAGO's championship match schedule for 2024.
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"I've lost all of that, but, looking back, I'm hugely content that I had a brilliant career. I would have loved if it was a little bit better but I think everyone is possibly like that. You possibly look at the ones that you lost instead of looking at the ones that you won.
"For me, I think because my career was the way it was where the first ten years were filled with success it was brilliant. And then the remaining seven seasons we didn't win anything. And the last couple...I struggled with injury for a while... but certainly the last couple I struggled with game-time as well as injury.
"If you had flipped that around it would still be the same career but you'd feel a lot happier. If you look at Stephen Cluxton, he didn't win anything until he was in his thirties and now he's the most successful player to have ever played.
23 July 2023; Richie Hogan of Kilkenny dejected after the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Kilkenny and Limerick at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
"And you see others who finish very strong and have had a huge amount of time at the start when they won nothing. It's a human thing, you look at the recent past moreso.
"But when I reflect on my whole career I'm pretty content that I did well. And, also, I think given the cards I was dealt I got the most I could out of it.
"I would have loved to have done a little bit more, but, when I look back at the years that I had and how hard I tried to get back, and there's many times when I could have walked away, I'm pretty content now that nobody will tell me I left too soon, that's for sure."
The better cards Hogan wishes were in his hand relate specifically to injuries.
"I was dealt some pretty good cards, to be fair, initially, and I'm happy with those for sure," he said.
"But I think there was many years even when I was top of my game where it was my attitude that was actually getting me to the pitch, but the body was completely breaking down. And I couldn't understand it looking at others my age.
"Just the areas around injuries. I have a back injury that can't be cured. Even if you did a cruciate injury you're gone for a year, fine, but there's a cure there and you can get it back, strengthen it, and it never has to be an issue again. Things like that, I think, were difficult to deal with."
Hogan has swiftly moved on to another phase of his career. The Danesfort man will be part of the GAAGO analysis team for the upcoming season, joining Eoin Cadogan, Seamus Hickey and Bubbles O'Dwyer.
"I'm not into criticising players, I'm genuinely not," said Hogan when asked what type of pundit he would be.
"I'm very much into pointing out what could have been done, what should have been done, and also what can make a difference between winning and losing.
"I'm genuinely not into criticising players, but there's a few lads beside me who'll pick that up!"
See Also: Hogan Makes Case For Kilkenny To Win 2024 All-Ireland Hurling Title
