Doughan comfortably filling big boots
By Shane Brophy
Nenagh CBS captain Eoghan Doughan has more than one reason to be primed for this Saturday’s Dr Harty Cup final.
Not only is he chasing a second winners medal and join a select group of players to be part of two Harty Cup winning teams, if successful, he would help atone for his fathers loss to the Clare school in the final 36 years ago when John Doughan started and scored in Nenagh’s first ever final appearance in 1990, when they went down to 0-10 to 0-3 at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.
“He gives me loads of advice but doesn’t put me under too much pressure, he just lets me go out and do my thing,” the Nenagh skipper said of his dad who was one of the most natural and skilful forwards to grace the club scene for over two decades.
His son is carrying on that mantle, already an All-Ireland winner at minor and under 20 level with Tipperary and is facing into another Harty Cup final.
“It’s a privilege to play in two Harty finals, not many people have done that before,” he said.
“I’m not really thinking about that, I’m just thinking about getting a good performance in and getting over the line.”
The Moneygall clubman is the only survivor from the fifteen that started the 2024 final in which he scored three points from play from corner forward.
“You get plenty of experience the more you play,” he said of his development in the two years since.
“We have plenty of lads who have been there before; five of six lads who were on the panel two years ago as well so it is great to have that experience around, especially for the younger lads to bring them on board.
“It’s just like any other match to me. I don’t really try to take the captaincy role too much into my head. We have loads of leaders in the group; I’m not the only one. There are plenty of lads there who could be captain as well.”
Doughan has really led the team superbly well, not by what he says, but by his actions, similar in many ways to his former team-mate a current selector Darragh McCarthy did in 2024. He is the team’s forward talisman, scoring 1-14 in the quarter final and another 0-12 in the semi-final win over Thurles, including the last gasp winning free.
“It is great to have Darragh in around the group,” Doughan said.
“He brings so much experience; he has been here before and has done it. He is giving us advice and is great to have him around.
“It is unbelievable what Darragh has done in the last two years and the player he has turned out to be. You just look up to him and try and replicate some of the stuff he does.”
In terms of the challenge St Flannan’s will provide, Doughan was man of the match, scoring 2-10, in the Dean Ryan Cup final win over the Clare side in 2023, while in the group stage meeting, he had already scored 1-5 before being forced off at half time through injury.
“We have played them a couple of times in the last few years, and in a Dean Ryan final so we know all their players, we know what is expected, it is going to be a titanic battle and we can’t wait for it,” concluded the Nenagh captain.