Kilmallock hurler, Graeme Mulcahy, pictured at the launch of the AIB GAA Club Championships that will see AIB celebrating #TheToughest players of all: those who don’t quit, who keep going and persevere no matter what. These characteristics define the players who come back year after year and show up for their club when it matters most.
By John Harrington
Much has been said and written about the fact that the Loughmore-Castleiney players will be in action for the 19th weekend in a row when they play Ballygunner in the AIB Munster SHC semi-final this weekend.
Such are the vagaries of the club championships that at the far end of the spectrum and on the other side of the Munster draw you have a Kilmallock team that has been lying idle for the past seven weeks since winning the Limerick SHC title on October 24.
Neither scenario is optimal, but Kilmallock’s Graeme Mulcahy is hopeful their period of inactivity won’t prove too disadvantageous when they play Cork champions Midleton in Sunday’s AIB Munster Club SHC semi-final.
“It has given lads a bit of breathing space and allowed us to celebrate the success and take a bit of down-time before moving into a mini-pre-season,” says the Limerick star.
“Now we're just knuckling down to getting prepared for the match. It gives us a bit of a chance to get a bit of quality work done. The only downside is we've had no competitive games in that period which is something we'll just have to deal with.”
Perhaps a period of down-time was just what Kilmallock needed because you can be sure they celebrated winning the Limerick SHC with considerable gusto.
They weren’t regarded as genuine contenders when they lost their first match of the campaign against Na Piarsaigh by 10 points and then laboured to one-point win over Ballybrown.
But they improved with ever match thereafter and produced their best performance of the year in the County Final against a hotly fancied Patrickswell.
It was their first time to win a county championship since 2014 and the presumption was their relatively mature group of players were now on the slide and no longer capable of scaling such a height.
When Mulcahy was interviewed shortly after the final whistle his voice cracked with emotion as he thought immediately of his brother Jake who wasn't there to share in the special moment.
“My brother Jake, he'd been one of our star players over the last decade as well and he'd taken a year out this year, had a bit of struggle with his health and things, so I suppose I was just wishing that he was there to share that success with us and that he was on the field that day,” he said. “My thoughts were with him initially and that's why I got that bit emotional.
“Yeah, there was a nice gap between those wins and most of those lads, they're either almost 30 or well into their 30s at this point. It's an ageing group but that maturity might have stood to us this year and I suppose, we are lucky that we did win this year because if it went on another year or two, this group might have disbanded so it was an important victory for us.
“We've been in a county semi-final every year since 2014, and lost one final. Last year we were well beaten by Doon. Lads were looking at it saying 'is this the end of an era?' so thankfully we knuckled down this year and did the business.”
Graeme Mulcahy in action for Kilmallock in the Limerick SHC Final against Patrickswell.
The old guard were very much to the fore in Kilmallock’s championship success, but younger guns like Micheál Houlihan and Oisín O’Reilly really stepped up as well to give their team the x-factor they’d possibly lacked in recent years.
Mulcahy believes they’re both good enough to go to the next level and feature for Limerick panels in the not-too-distant future.
“All year those two guys have been phenomenal,” says Mulcahy.
“All year Micheal has been pitching in with 11 or 12 points a game and Oisin would get 1-3 or 1-4 or 2-4.
“If you're looking at the final, Oisin was probably relatively quiet - he had a few scores and assists - but then that goal, that was huge and it really sent us on our way. Two very very talented hurlers that I'm sure John (Kiely) and the management team will be looking at.”
A seven-week lay-off isn’t ideal coming into a match of this magnitude, but it’s a good bet that Kilmallock will still be well primed for the challenge.
Teams coaches Rory Gaffney and Paul Tobin have shown already they know how to get a team to peak at the right times, and in manager Tony Considine they have one of the canniest old foxes in club management.
“Tony was there back in 2010 and 2013 and won two counties,” says Mulcahy, who now has four Limerick SHC medals to his name.
“He brought a lot of discipline and experience to the set-up. His management of us as players and of the town and of the club, that's been really key since he came back in last year.
“He's brought back in a bit of discipline and I suppose, his trust in particularly the older lads to drive things on individually and collectively, that balance between players and management is key.
“Rory Gaffney and Paul Tobin, a local lad, they do most of the coaching. Rory has come in this year and he's brought a fresh approach as well, and tactically as well, so he's been a huge difference to us.”
