The Cappataggle hurlers are competing in their first Galway senior hurling final this Sunday, with former-player Alan Loughnane coming home from London to watch the game.
Cappataggle produced ‘one of the shocks of the last ten years’ in defeating reigning All-Ireland champs St Thomas’ in the semi-final, booking their place in the decider against local rivals Loughrea.
The east Galway men have knocked on the door in recent times, losing four semi-finals between 2017 and 2020, three of them by a single point.
Alan Loughnane played in each of those near misses, generally as a wing back, adding to the emotion when they finally got over the line.
It can be difficult missing out on big days like this, knowing you could be there but the main problem for this expat is the stress of watching Cappataggle’s games.
He was up the walls as St Thomas’ Eanna Burke hit the post with one of the last pucks of the semi-final, the last turn in a complete rollercoaster ride.
But thankfully for him and Cappataggle, pride and delight won out as they finally cleared the penultimate hurdle, after all the trouble it caused them in the past.
Alan Loughnane in action against Loughrea in the 2020 Galway Championship. Sportsfile.
From Loughnane’s perspective, there’s no envy regarding the players who are there, more respect for the dedication they have shown, and he really is delighted to see them getting their reward.
“You’d hear some lads say it might be bittersweet when they’re not playing themselves, but I wouldn’t see it that way really. You’ve played with these lads and seen the work that goes into it so all you want is for them to do well.
"I’ve watched a lot of the games this year and I really wanted them to do well.
“Skehill is still in goal, Eanna Garvey, Declan Cronin, Niall Collins, Ja Mannion and a few others were all there as well, and they’ve been fantastic hurlers for the club over the years.”
“We had some really good leaders in our dressing room like Damien Joyce. Every year we came back, we fully thought we were good enough to win it.
“When you get to the semi-final, it’s never going to be an easy game and you know, it just felt like a bounce of the ball didn’t go our way on a couple of those occasions and we didn’t quite make it over the line.”
“So there were some dejected dressing rooms back then.
27 September 2020; Ronan Garvey of Cappataggle reacts following the Galway County Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final match between St Thomas and Cappataggle at Kenny Park in Athenry, Galway. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
“That’s why it’s so great to see the lads getting their reward after all they’ve put into it, making the first county final.”
Everyone says watching on is more nerve wracking than playing and Loughnane knows all about it, supporting the club which is made up of four small parishes - Cappataggle, Kilreekil, Aughrim & Kilconnell.
“Aw God. watching it here the last day.
“About five minutes left and my girlfriend came in and I was glued to the game. I was roaring when Oisin Finn put that goal in the top corner, and I’d say my neighbours were thinking, what on earth is wrong with this lad?’
When Loughnane was playing himself, he never wanted to talk hurling for fear of bigging it up too much in his head, but it’s come full circle.
In days gone by his dad would drive the conversation in that direction, as a secretary of the club for years but now Alan picks up the phone to ring him, analysing the games, talking about who played well and how the team is going.
The good-will in the area is something special, with well over €30,000 thousand having been raised for their county final training fund within just one week, obliterating the initial target of €10,000.
Picture: Cappataggle hurling club Facebook.
“It means an awful lot to people. When we went up senior in 2008, my neighbour Joe Broderick was sitting up in the stands and he was in tears watching it when the final whistle went.
“You think of people like Sean Stankard, probably one of the best club-man there ever was and it was brilliant to hear his name mentioned on the commentary of the stream the last day, that he would be looking down smiling.
“Even dad, back when I was playing, he’d love nothing more than to talk hurling with you after a game. Now when you’re not playing you can enjoy the build-up a little bit more.”
Steven Creaven is in his second year as the team’s manager but his fingerprints are all over Cappataggle’s rise, having trained Loughnane’s underage team from under-14 the whole way up.
“He was coming down to train us when he was in his early 20s, and he was still hurling for the Cappataggle senior team at the time.
“He could have been off doing anything else but that was what he did.
“He put so much into it down through the years, and we won minor and under-21 B championships those times, so it’s brilliant that a homegrown manager like him is involved.”
Days like Sunday have only come thanks to that kind of work at underage level, according to Loughnane, with a talented generation of younger players such as Lewis Coughlan, Oisin Finn and Liam Collins - a former minor hurler of the year - helping to instigate this run.
Liam Collins was named the 2020 All-Ireland minor hurler of the year. Sportsfile.
“A lot of effort has gone into it for the last twenty years at underage level. They built a big astroturf and wall-ball and I suppose that’s combined with a really talented group of lads coming up.”
There are times out in London when Loughnane misses aspects of the game.
“You’d miss the lads more than anything else.
“That’s the best part of it when you look back, the craic in the dressing room. I’m happy enough with my decision from a hurling side of things.
“The writing was on the wall for me, there were a good few young lads coming up behind me and you can see that there now. They have some brilliant young players.”
But the connection with the team remains.
“I’d always remember watching inter-county games, and you’d be like ‘f*ck sake if a lad makes a mistake.
“Back when you were playing yourself, you’d still be like ‘f*ck sake,’ in your head, even though you’d tell your team-mate ‘come on, come on, it’ll be alright.’
“But now, watching on, I wouldn’t be like ‘f*ck sake’ at all. I’d feel a bit more empathy there watching the lads, knowing all the work they put in.”
The base is London, but the heart hasn’t left Cappataggle.
