Tiernan Killeen and Loughrea making memories that will last a lifetime

​By Paul Keane

Still in his early 20s, Tiernan Killeen has already done plenty in the game of hurling.

From lining in out in back-to-back All-Ireland minor final wins with Galway, clinching the four-in-a-row in 2021, to contesting a Fitzgibbon Cup final and, just last summer, a Leinster senior decider with the Tribesmen, he has met many of his career targets.

The versatile half-forward has won back-to-back Galway SH titles with Loughrea too, impressively breaking the stranglehold enjoyed by St Thomas'. But lining out at Croke Park on January 18 in the AIB All-Ireland club SHC final? That will be a career high.

"Oh absolutely," enthused Loughrea centre-forward Killeen who put in another huge shift in Sunday's semi-final win over Sleacht Neill. "This is an opportunity to go up to Croke Park with my best friends, that I've grown up hurling with since I was six years of age. It means the world to me. I don't think it will ever be topped."

Now imagine if Loughrea beat Ballygunner on the biggest day in the club hurling calendar to bring the Tommy Murphy Cup back west - that would be something truly special.

Killeen's excitement is replicated among the local community. Last Sunday morning, just as the team bus was pulling out and heading for north Dublin and Parnell Park, a number of coaches filled with supporters hit the road too.

"It's a big group effort and we need them," said Killeen. "And we're going to need them again in a few weeks."

Chances are Loughrea will be underdogs in just under a month when they take on the might of Ballygunner, the 2022 champions.

But there's no sign of any inferiority complex about this talented Loughrea team. When the game hung in the balance at half-time on Sunday last, with just two points between the teams, Loughrea simply resolved to keep doing what they were doing. They knew they would come good.

"We stuck with our plan," agreed Killeen, reflecting on the eventual 13-point win. "Last Thursday evening, we set out our plan. We talked about the way we wanted to play, about the players we wanted to target and the players we wanted to shut down for them. We stuck with it and we knew that if we could stay going like that, and get to 15 minutes from the end where there was nothing between us, we knew we would be able to drive on."

That's pretty much how it panned out too, Vince Morgan's spectacular 37th minute solo goal finally giving Loughrea a little wiggle room. Then, between the 47th and 61st minutes, they reeled off nine points in a row to turn a close call into a comfortable win.

As far back as October's Galway quarter-final, when Killeen produced his own personal tour de force to see off Clarinbridge in a one-point game, Loughrea have been trusting in themselves and believing in the process.

Killeen puts a lot of that down to manager Tommy Kelly.

"We're extremely fortunate with our management," he said. "You look at that management, it's the best management I've ever worked under. And I can't see myself working under a better management, because they're so experienced, they're just unbelievable lads who know how to prepare a team and how to set up a team."

Loughrea's enviable panel depth helps too. Morgan, a Galway U-20 last summer, wasn't initially named to start against Sleacht Neill on Sunday but an injury to county final Man of the Match Darren Shaughnessy opened the door for him to start. Morgan seized the opportunity, scoring 1-1, and if it wasn't for the excellence of Killeen's little brother, Cullen, Morgan probably would have been Man of the Match himself.

"We've 35 unbelievable hurlers there, you could put out two 15s and you wouldn't see much of a difference," said Killeen. "We're very lucky that our training is of a really high standard. We're able to play games against eachother that are really competitive and we're always driving eachother on."

There's a third Killeen brother on the Loughrea team too, Caimin. They come from good sporting stock as the sons of former League of Ireland player Ronan Killeen. Do a little digging online and you'll come across a picture of Ronan, wearing the maroon of Galway United exactly 30 years ago and exiting the field after a friendly with Manchester City, next to City legends Steve Lomas and Alan Kernaghan.

The Killeen boys have their own opportunity now to be remembered for decades out west. Beating a generational Ballygunner team that is going for a second All-Ireland win in the space of five seasons clearly won't be easy - but then Loughrea are a special bunch themselves. When they lost to Na Fianna at the semi-final stage last year, they simply resolved to come back stronger and to redouble their efforts.

"We took our learnings," said Killeen. "We knew how disappointed and upset we were after that game, that we didn't want to feel that pain again. So there was obviously that motivation there to drive it on. We felt there was an opportunity lost last year so we kind of wanted to right a wrong in a way."