A victory for the team says Brian McGrath

By Stephen Barry

Brian McGrath reckons Loughmore -Castleiney earned some overdue credit for the style of their Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship triumph over Nenagh Éire Óg.

Sunday’s final equalled the record for the highest-scoring sixty-minute final in the Premier County along with Toomevara’s 2003 victory over Thurles Sarsfields.

Loughmore tallied ten different scorers for their 2-22 total, including a long-range McGrath point, to fend off a determined Nenagh challenge.

“Sometimes I don't think we get the credit that's due there for the hurling,” said the centre-back who won his third senior championship medal.

“People say we'll dog it out, we'll dog it out, but by God, we have hurlers all over the field.

“We're not relying on John or Noel there. You spread the ball around to any of them guys, there's some serious stickmen there. We're well able to hurl the ball around the field.

“We've did that in patches today, but more of it to come hopefully.”

Loughmore have now won three of the last five Tipp titles, while achieving back-to-back Dan Breen Cups for the first time in the club’s history.

“It's something we as a club have never done. Not too many clubs have done it. It's an absolutely unreal achievement,” Brian added.

“I don't know how to sum it up. It's surreal. To do it last year was great, but the work and effort it takes to get back here, it's unbelievable. It was our goal at the start of the year, but it's a long way to come.”

McGrath began the final at full-back before pushing out towards his usual number six role. Lorcan Egan started at centre-back, despite being hospitalised during the week due to gastroenteritis. He lost five kilos, but was fit enough to track Jake Morris all over Semple Stadium.

“You don't ask too many questions. You just hope he'll be able to play on the day,” McGrath continued.

“He's (Lorcan) been unbelievable for us all year. He's been our man-marker, and he did an exceptional job. You wouldn't think he'd been sick all week. Absolute credit to him, and he's absolutely unreal there.

“I started in the full-back line, but that's the way the game has gone. You have to be adaptable these days. We got it sorted then with 15-20 minutes gone in the first half. Nothing new to us.

“We probably didn't get into our flow too much in the first half and struggled a bit in the second half. That was credit to Nenagh, the battle they brought, and thankfully we came out on the right side of it.”

The scenes of joy at the full-time whistle were in stark contrast to the disappointment of their football semi-final defeat to Kilsheelan-Kilcash, which ended their double-double dreams. With eight days to recover, Loughmore were quick to move on.

“Last week, we were all very disappointed. We got beat by a better team,” said McGrath.

“But straight away we knew we had a county final next week. Anybody would give their left arm to be there. So, we had to get our heads screwed on, and we couldn't drag on too long with the disappointment.”

It’s been 18 years since Loughmore last made the Munster hurling final. On their last three attempts, they suffered defeats to Ballygunner (twice) and Na Piarsaigh. With those two on the other side of the draw, they face a wide-open semi-final against Clare champions Éire Óg Ennis.

“We were disappointed last year,” said McGrath.

“We'll enjoy the next few days, but there's another championship there to be won. We'll knuckle down during the week, we'll get our heads around that, and we'll give it one right crack.”