- Dylan O'Connell
- Thu, Jun 03 2021
Conor Hourihane could not wait to get out get out to Spain and work with Stephen Kenny and the Irish team, who are preparing for friendlies against Andorra and Hungary.
On Saturday afternoon, the midfielder played sixty minutes for Swansea City in the English Championship playoff final. The Welsh side lost 2-0 and Hourihane wasted no time dwelling on the result, as he got the next flight to Girona in Catalonia to link up with the squad.
“I flew out as quickly as possible,” he explained, “I had a little bit to do with Swansea after the game, because you can’t run off too quickly after a game.
“I was on pretty much one of the first flights out the next day. I was really eager to get out and make myself available for selection for the Andorra game.”
The midfielder joined up with an Ireland team that is leading Stephen Kenny’s philosophical revolution of Irish football. The former Dundalk manager is introducing a pass and move system, which is built around keeping possession and allowing players to express themselves on the ball.
It is a vision of the beautiful game that Hourihane has fallen in with and he hopes savour every moment of working with the Ireland manager.
“I’m really enjoying playing in Kenny’s system,” he explained, “He is more possession based and he wants us to pass the ball a little bit more than previous managers. I’m really enjoying that. Midfielders are getting a lot more touches on the ball than previous games.
“The gaffer here has been brilliant to me on a personal level. I can’t speak any higher of him. He’s been fantastic.
“I’ve really enjoyed the camps with Stephen. You have a short career and you blink and it’s over. You have to cherish every camp that you go to, because it does not last forever.”
Hourihane joined up with a squad featuring fellow Leesiders Adam Idah, John Egan, Chiedozie Ogbene, and Caoimhin Kelleher.
It is an Ireland team littered with familiar faces and voices from home and after years of being the sole representative of Cork on Ireland squads, the Bandon native is loving the Leeside takeover of the Irish national team.
“It’s brilliant, it really is fantastic,” he reflected on the make-up of the team. “When I was growing up and I was fourteen or fifteen, I travelled up to Dublin to a lot of Dublin based teams.
“It’s great now to be in a senior level with so many Cork lads. It’s great to have a few people from where you live. It’s really nice to have the Cork lads, and the more the merrier!”
