Premier SHC: Kanturk's Lorcán McLoughlin enjoying the journey but wants it to continue
Kanturk's Lorcán McLoughlin clears as John Wigginton Barrett of St Finbarr's closes in during the clubs' RedFM Hurling League clash last year. Picture: Jim Coughlan
It’s 15 years since Lorcán McLoughlin captained a team that was contesting the Cork SHC final.
Back then, Cork IT made it to the decider, losing narrowly to Carrigtwohill, and on Sunday the former county has a chance to reach the showpiece occasion with Kanturk, who take on St Finbarr’s in SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh at 2pm.
The idea that the club would be in position to grace such a stage was never something that McLoughlin considered; not necessarily because it seemed outlandish but rather because, in a busy dual club, the focus is always on the task at hand.
“I just think you go with it,” he says.
“I think it's just been so chaotic and hectic over the last couple of years, there's been so many competitions and so many games and so many highs and lows that, looking back, it's hard to believe that it's actually 20 years, it just seems to have flown by.
“Even this year, it just goes week on week and you just go with it and you hope to kind of get over the line, whatever way.
“Some days, that's a brilliant performance, like maybe against Blackrock, and other days then you just get over the line, barely, and that's just what it's about, it's about winning whatever way you can.
“It's tough, the weeks are gruelling but I think we've a panel and a group and a club that are used to the dual thing.”
In 2011, Kanturk were operating in the IHC, which was then the third tier, while they were a junior A football outfit. The interim has seen 36-year-old McLoughlin claim six county medals, three in each code, as well as Munster and All-Ireland intermediate club honors.
The good days have of course been counter-balanced by disappointing defeats, but they serve to provide context and perspective. So it was that, after conceding four late points to lose by two against Glen Rovers in their second group game, Kanturk were able to respond and beat Blackrock by 11 to top their group before then dethroning champions Sarsfields in the quarter-finals.
“I suppose, over the last few years, you tend not to get too carried away by a win or a loss,” he says.
“You just kind of go through it and it always comes down to the last day anyway.
“I think it came at a good time and the run-in came good. I suppose in the aftermath, there's disappointment, obviously, when you lose but there was an awful lot of good stuff that you could take from the Glen performance.
“We put ourselves in there and we just didn't get over the line but there’s a big part of that that we learned from.
“We had that tough game and we had a two-week run into Blackrock and I suppose that's the result of the performance against Blackrock.”
Such is the nature of the dual mandate – they will have a senior A football semi-final with Carbery Rangers to deal with too, date dependent on Sunday’s result.
For McLoughlin, physical maintenance is vital in terms of continuing to perform.
“Yeah, recovery is a big part of it, absolutely,” he says.
“I think, more so in football, we've got strength and depth there, so I don't have to play as much in previous years, so that has helped.
“Seán [Murphy, strength and conditioning coach] is excellent as well that everything is tracked and monitored and recorded – how fellas are, what injuries they have, are lads fatigued, how tired they are, so all that's being monitored.
“They have a good handle on all of it and the workload is important. We've tapered off as the year has gone on but we're still on top of the gym stuff, we're still on top of the S&C stuff, so it's just about managing all that side of it.”
Keeping that right, allied with good results, adds up to an appreciation of where they area.
“There's years we've gone through where I didn't enjoy playing,” McLoughlin says, it just got to the stage where you've kind of had enough of it played, now I'm out the other side of that and I realise that you know time is against me now so you enjoy it a bit more again.
“There's a great bunch of lads, they're all training hard, there's great excitement around the place about what we're doing and that feeds into players.
“You meet people around town and they're talking about the game. It's great, you get a better sense of the whole thing and what it's about.
“The excitement is still there, the nerves are still as bad as ever, but there’s just more of an appreciation of the whole thing.”
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