Eamonn Kelly, the leader of Loughmore-Castleiney, communicated two crucial points following the club’s triumph in the Tipperary hurling championship for the fifth occasion. Firstly, he acknowledged John McGrath, his forward player who has been an All Star and a two-time All-Ireland winner. McGrath continued to exhibit his top-level skills at the club level.
McGrath’s score of 1-13 unsurprisingly played a major role in the defeat of Toomevara, with his goal in the 60th minute sealing the final. Kelly praised McGrath saying, “Today, he received his second man-of-the-match award. He deserves every bit of recognition for achieving it in a county semi-final and final.
Additionally, Kelly praised Loughmore’s remarkable record as a regularly victorious dual club. They are set to compete against Clonmel in the football final next Sunday, with the aim of achieving another double victory to add to their 2021 success.
In the famous 2011 All-Ireland minor football final, McGrath played for the Tipp minors against Dublin. More recently, it was his 60th-minute goal against Clonmel that led to the club’s double victory in 2021, stopping Clonmel from achieving three wins in succession.
Recalling the closing moments of the match against Toomevara, where a late goal by the opposition could have led to a contested finish, McGrath discussed his pivotal role. He commented, “In the slippery conditions, there was no certainty of capturing a moving ball. The objective was to pressurise the defender. The final strike wasn’t the best, but it was just enough to get the ball over the line.”
The spotlight now moves to the upcoming Sunday’s football final. The team is functioning on autopilot at this point, as expressed by one of the members. Anticipations are high for fourteen of the team players to participate in both finals. Their experience with continuous fixtures, every week, has trained them to relish the journey without overly fixating on the result.
Naturally, it’s not every day that one gets to enjoy such victories, so worrying about the following week’s tasks seems rather pointless and the celebrations are due now. However, the team does plan to buckle down by Tuesday or Wednesday to gear up for the football match again.
Once they conclude this, they intend to set their sights on the Munster championship in November. If everything proceeds as planned, the club is looking forward to playing two provincial semi-finals on back-to-back weeks. It must be noted that the hurling semi-final from three years prior, where Loughmore controversially lost against eventual All-Ireland winners Ballygunner, is still a bit of a tender subject.
Brothers McGrath and Noel were both shown the red card during that game, and there’s a possibility of a rematch with the consistent champions from Waterford. But according to McGrath, it’s not healthy to dwell on the past.
He quoted, “We look forward to it like any other match. We plan to play football next week, see where it takes us and assess our situation the following Monday morning.” Most likely, they’d still be in the midst of the hustle. As is the norm.