It's fair to say that Shane Horgan had an electrifying career 13 year career in rugby. The winger made his debut for Leinster back in 1998, and would represent the province a total of 207 times.
Horgan would also represent Ireland a total of 65 times and would be part of the British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand in 2005, coming off the bench in all three test matches.
But it all could have turned out differently for the Bellewstown man. An avid gaelic footballer in his youth, Horgan would turn out for the Meath U16 and minor panels as well as for his school St Mary's Diocesan in Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Our next guest on the Electric Ireland #GAA Minor Moments podcast is former rugby player Shane Horgan. Horgan takes a look back at the influence GAA had on his life
from playing minor with Meath to representing Ireland. https://t.co/cPNm0fabBk #ThisIsMajor@officialgaa pic.twitter.com/7CnesII67t— Electric Ireland (@ElectricIreland) June 26, 2024
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Horgan would speak of his minor football experiences with Fergal O'Keeffe on the Electric Ireland GAA Minor Moments Podcast, where he would tell the story of an injury he suffered early on in the championship.
Shane Horgan's Nose Crushing Encounter
Horgan would represent the Royals in 1996 Leinster Minor Football Championship, where they would face Offaly in the first round. Despite a good early start in his first minor championship, the young Horgan, who was playing full-forward, was about to receive a reality check from the opposition fullback.
We played the first game against Offaly, I remember I was playing full-forward and the first ball, the throw-up in the midfield, I ran out, took it on my chest, jinked one away, turned the other, kicked it over the bar, and it’s like ‘ah this is great."
"So the ball was kicked-out into the midfield again, our midfield caught it. I said ‘listen, same on again.’ I ran out, kicked the ball in, bounced into me, caught it on my chest, jinked one away, turned the other and the full-back ploughed it into my nose and splatted it everywhere! Broke my nose into bits, blood down the front of my shirt, and so it wasn’t quite as easy as I thought it would be.”
Despite the injury, Meath would draw that game 0-12 to 0-12, setting up a reply against the Faithful County which they would win 1-15 to 2-11. After brushing past Louth 0-13 to 0-03 in the quarterfinals, Horgan would face Dublin in the semi-final, where the Dubs would pick up the win 0-10 to 0-08. Horgan himself admitted he didn't have the best of games that day, and that the disappointment of that day resonated with his younger self.
But I remember being so disappointed, especially to lose to Dublin, you know, because the history of Meath and Dublin and all the times I would have seen Meath at that stage having the upper hand. Of course they lost a couple of times through the years but generally Meath beat Dublin, you know, the thing of Meath not being afraid of Dublin.
"I felt that I really let down, not just the team, but me personally, I didn’t deliver a performance that day and I felt very, very disappointed, and as disappointed as maybe I had been about anything in sport up to that point.”
That semi-final would be the last time Horgan would ever play competitive inter-county gaelic football. The then 17-year-old would be invited to train with the Leinster seniors that summer, and with professionalism coming into rugby union at that time, the choice of what sport to pursue became clear to him.
With the stellar career he ended up having, Horgan may have made the right choice but it will leave many of the Royals faithful wondering what could have been.
