Aston Villa fans will be more than aware that midfielder Conor Hourihane helped himself to a particular statistic when he found the back of the net in our 5-1 rout of Norwich City at Carrow Road ahead of the October international break.
The 28-year-old has now scored in every division in English football, along with scoring at international level for the Republic of Ireland – Click Here.
With the lull in the fixture list sadly in full flow at the moment, Hourihane has been reflecting on his achievements in the game and the Independent.ie have him admitting that although he’s not the ‘most talented player’ in the game, he makes up for that in his approach and his work ethic.
“I had a little bit of talent maybe, but hard work has got me through the leagues to where I am now, made the most of myself and will continue to do it. I wasn’t the most talented player in all the teams I played in. Plymouth? Probably not. Barnsley? Probably not, going back to Douglas Hall, Bandon, Cork, everything. I probably wasn’t the most talented, but I definitely worked the hardest. It was probably the fear of failure, and not making it, and having to go back home and being that nearly man. It’s still now, even though I’m playing international level and playing in the Premier League. To this day, I’m always worried about that person behind me. That’s what drives me on every day. Listen, I’ve failed loads of times. It defines you as a character when you fail and how you bounce back. Some people shrink and don’t fancy failing again. I’m not scared to fail again. And If I do, I’ll come back again. I’ve had more tough days than good days in football, that’s for sure, so it’s just something I’ve had in my armoury over the years. It’s probably a fantastic one to have as a lot of people can’t overcome the failures and the setbacks.”
Hourihane has long split the fanbase given the type of player he is, but you can’t fault his goals and assists as he’s played a key part in our return to the top flight and given he can still show further improvement, I imagine we’ll be seeing a fair bit more of him in the next few years to come as we continue our growth once again.
It’s also not the first time he’s proved his doubters wrong!
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