No big secret to Loughmore success - Dempsey

By Shane Brophy

Michael Dempsey has seen a lot over the years, and he even admits what Loughmore/Castleiney have achieved this year is something special.

Dempsey was a renowned footballer with Laois, before going onto become physical trainer with the Kilkenny senior hurlers during their golden era under Brian Cody.

Midway through the season, he answered the call to get involved with Loughmore/Castleiney in a consultancy role where he got to feel first-hand of what makes this club so special.

“In terms of my own experience, what Loughmore/Castleiney have done is seriously up there,” he said.

“They bring everything they have to it. For a club team to lose on the double, most teams would melt away, but Loughmore/Castleiney just took it step by step.

“They are an incredible bunch of players with a great management team, but they have a great tradition and culture in the club and don’t know any other way. Yet you have to go out and perform so you have to give huge credit to the players on the trot, and to go out and be so competitive and so composed.

“People talk about their character and their attitude, but their skill levels are also good because you don’t win these matches without a high skill level and leaders all over the field, so it is a remarkable achievement for the club.”

He added: “They understand the situation they are in so if you are getting ready for football one week and hurling the next, it is hard to get to the pace of the game. But they don’t panic, they get their water break, learn, and move on. When the games are tight, they just have incredible workrate, they know how to win matches.

“But you have to say what they are doing is remarkable. Lots of people give out about having too many matches, even at inter-county level but for what they have done for the last seventeen weeks you don’t have much time to work on tactics, so what they have done is incredible.”

Dempsey had previously gotten a taste for the club at underage level many years ago and feels they aren’t doing anything special to do what they have been doing.

“I have a connection with the club as I was involved with the underage a few years ago, giving some help so I got to learn about the culture and tradition in it, I saw their senior players down training their juveniles, so I am acutely aware of the values they have.

“I was doing very little and helping out in whatever way I could, but it was a great honour to witness, and people talk about the value of clubs all over Ireland and sometimes we take it for granted, but unless you see what Loughmore/Castleiney are doing, it is really powerful and unless you witness it from the inside, you don’t get it.

“What they have it what most sportspeople or most teams want to have but it is very difficult to have and the big secret about sport is there is no secret and the attitude and composure they bring to it, a lot of teams would like to have that but to get the best out of themselves is a challenge so that is what keeps every club going trying to be the best version of yourself and Loughmore seem to have that cracked as they always seem to get the best out of themselves in a game situation.”