Noel McGrath is probably best known for his hurling prowess with the Tipperary county team, but within his club Loughmore Castleiney, he is simply a GAA player.
The key difference is that he is not referred to as a hurler or a footballer, but as a GAA player, because that is exactly what he is.
Loughmore Castleiney have taken the idea of being a dual club, and ran with it in a way that no other club has really managed.
While most set-ups treat the two sports as different entities, with different squads and players, apart from the odd crossover, the Tipperary side mix the two together.
It would not be uncommon for a training session to start off with the hurls in use, and end with the Gaelic footballs being kicked about.
This has lead to the club seeing incredible success with both codes, and although it might seem strange to those on the outside, but to McGrath, it is the most normal thing in the world.
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People have often said over the years, why are you doing both, but if you go back 50 or 60 years, we were a football club, and you have to honour our tradition, and you have to withhold your tradition", McGrath told Clubber TV.
"People who had gone before us, who had built our clubs and won football finals in the '40s, '50s, and '60s - you can't just throw that away.
"We want to continue that tradition in both football and hurling, like the club became senior in the early '80s and that's continued from there.
"We're playing hurling and football since we were five, six or seven, we don't know any different, and we love it. You honour the tradition of your club, the history of your club, and that's what we want to do.
"We want to continue honouring that for as long as we possibly can, and then somebody else will do it when we're finished.
"I love it, everyone else loves it, and we will play it for as long as we can, and for as long as we're enjoying it, and why not?
"We will be finished for long enough and have nothing to do but sit back and watch."
"We're playing hurling and football since we're 5, 6, 7. We don't know any different, and we love it" 🗣️
Noel McGrath speaks about the importance of withholding the @Loughmore_Gaa dual tradition 🟢🔴 pic.twitter.com/fcsKnFrAtL
— Clubber (@clubber) August 28, 2024
This interview paints an ideal world of how GAA clubs should be run, with both codes getting equal attention and respect.
Of course this isn't possible for everywhere, particularly in areas where one of the sports just isn't prominent, so there is a lack of coaches etc, but it can certainly be an example for those lucky enough to be deemed as dual clubs.
