‘It’s a great time for

Diarmuid Sheehan caught up with Kanturk captain Lorcan McLoughlin ahead of this weekend’s All Ireland final with Ballyragget

ITH cheers echoing from the stands in Newbridge last Saturday Kanturk’s hurling captain Lorcan O’Neill led his side off the pitch to the dressing room for some subdued, short lived celebrations.

Winning an All-Ireland semi-final is something worth celebrating, but when the All Ireland final itself is just eight days away one can’t get carried away – something that can never be said about this professional, highly motivated and sublime hurling side.

The battle with Middletown Na Fianna of Armagh may have just ended, but eyes were already trained on the following weekend when Kanturk would need to up their game if they wanted to collect the Holy Grail for Intermediate club hurlers.

“We are just delighted, it is a great time for Kanturk,” O Neill told The Corkman at the final whistle.

“It has been a long championship and a tough one. We didn’t even dream of this at the start of the year. We just put the heads down after the county – the county was our target and after that we got together as a group and said we would give Munster a rattle and as opportunities like this don’t come around too often, for some never at all, we said we had to grab it with both hands.

“When we got over Munster we had another chat and of course we were going to give it all for an All-Ireland and thank God we are now in the final. This was another tough day for us, but after this the trip to Croke Park next weekend will be all the sweeter for the fans and the players.”

While most of the players have never played on the hallowed turf of Croke Park some clearly have with the County side and O’Neill feels that the All Ireland winners in their team may well give them an edge come Sunday afternoon.

“It should stand to us that the boys [Lorcán McLoughlin, Aidan Walsh and Anthony Nash] know the place well. They are three key players and they won’t be that nervous and that really helps.

“For the rest of the lads it is all about just looking forward to the day. It is going to be a big day for the team, the club and the town so what we have to try to do is enjoy it. I know it is only a week away, but after last year with the football and the hurling we are used to week in week out so now it is about looking after the bodies tomorrow, get together on Monday for nothing hectic I’d say just a lot of ball work.”

While O’Neill and his teammates are prepared to do whatever it takes to win an All-Ireland title the boys, as one would expect, are much happier playing than training.

“Especially at this time of the year, going training in the cold and the wet, we much rather going playing games. We are lucky to be still involved in championship as normally this time of the year we might be only going back into hard training but for us the games are still there to play and still there to win.

“Usually you might be in no form to go back after the break, but this year we were dying to get back to it all over Christmas. We enjoy getting together so it isn’t really like training for us