Premier SHC: Huge progress made this season by Kanturk says Lorcán McLoughlin

THE relaxed nature of the Kanturk team before the win over Glen Rovers in the Co-Op SuperStores Premier SHC relegation play-off nearly two weeks ago said it all.

They had a look of a team that had it under wraps and when it came to the crunch, Kanturk delivered, winning 1-16 to 1-13. While they had 19 wides and should have won by more, it was another eye catching performance from Kanturk. The job they did on the Glen’s star man Patrick Horgan was largely effective. Darren Browne didn’t give the sharpshooter an inch with stalwart Lorcán McLoughlin deployed as a sweeper. The 33-year-old excelled in the role, a player who has seen it all in the green and white. When McLoughlin first joined the Kanturk squad, they were struggling to even win a game in the IHC to now relegating Glen Rovers from the top flight. It really is some story.

McLoughlin, who is the quintessential all-rounder, able to play almost anywhere on the pitch, and the former Cork hurler is only too delighted to look back on the memorable win nearly two weeks on.

“We have a bit of time now to look back on the victory and relief is the overriding emotion,” McLoughlin says.

“Strangely enough we had no nerves whatsoever going into the game. There has been a lot of talk about dual players, but it has helped up especially in this campaign playing week in week out and that definitely helped us with the nerves. We have been busy week in week out so it was all about the upcoming game and not about the match in two weeks’ time to worry about. We had a big local derby against Knocknagree a week before the Glen game, another match with a lot riding on it and all that helps with preparation. If we had a two week run into the relegation play-off we probably would have felt the pressure more.

“There’s always excitement playing a huge club and it definitely focused the minds. We were confident we would win. It also helped that the media were focusing on the Glen, rightly so, but it played into our hands. The pressure was all on the Glen.”

It would have been so easy for Kanturk to feel sorry for themselves. The fact they ended up in the relegation play-off was so unfortunate after playing so well in the three group games. Tom Walsh’s side drew with Sarsfields, a game they should have won late on, then a two-point defeat to Newtownshandrum, with Kanturk hitting 16 wides before St Finbarr’s pulled away in the final quarter of the final game of the group stages to win by eight points. McLoughlin says while they were downhearted to end up in the relegation play-off, they had to rise to the occasion.

“The championship format we have here in Cork now is brilliant. Every score matters really. We would have been pleased with the group-stage performances and even doing the analysis after the games, our play was exceptional and we created a huge amount of scoring chances. On average we created around 3-30 across the three group-stage matches, which were against top quality opposition. The conversion of our chances came back to cost us, we had a great chance to qualify and it went begging. We were disappointed we ended up in the do-or-die game, but the character in this group is outstanding. We had to stand up and be counted and we did."

The crafty hurler feels after two tricky top flight championship campaigns under their belt, that Kanturk can now start looking upwards instead of battling relegation every season.

“It’s great that we have stayed up, the plan next year would be to try and progress after two seasons of just trying to avoid the drop. If you compare last season and this season, we have made huge progress in every department in this campaign. Yes the conversion has left us down but it’s something that we will work on. It would be more worrying if we weren’t creating the chances.

“We have really good young players coming through and it would have been an awful pity to have dropped down to senior A and it would have hindered our progress. We could have qualified for the knockout stages this season if we had a bit of luck, so hopefully we can up it another bit and kick on in 2024. I do believe there is so much more in us.”