Fogarty and Gaels have come a long way

GIVEN that it was a Kilkenny-man, Dermot Healy, who led Offaly from the hurling wilderness to All-Ireland glory in 1981, it is only fitting that one of the leading members of that side should now be giving something back, down Noreside.

Along with Mick Nolan and Pat Cleere, former Offaly Allstar corner-back Aidan Fogarty (1982 and ’89) is one of a three-man management team of the O’Loughlin Gaels team that face Cork champions Newtownshandrum in Sunday’s All-Ireland club semi-final, in Thurles.

“Offaly will always be my home but I’ve been living in Kilkenny for nearly 20 years and involved with O’Loughlin’s for quite a few years”, he explains. “I’ve been with the senior team for the last six years, was with the U16’s with Brian Murphy, the former Cork player (another multiple Allstar), for a few years before that, so I suppose it’s been the guts of 10 years with the club.”

Ten very eventful years for O’Loughlin Gaels. In 1994 they were struggling to make an impression in the Kilkenny junior championship; in 2001 they won their first senior title, followed by another last year. The parallels with their opponents this weekend are uncanny; ten years ago, Newtown went to a replay to defeat neighbours and fellow-parishioners Dromina in the North Cork junior A final; in 2000 they won their first Cork senior title, won it again in 2003. And, as Aidan points out, the parallels don’t end there.

“Like ourselves, a lot of their team have come up together through the ranks, with a lot of success. We’ve taken the same path, from junior to senior, but it took us a while to put down roots at that level. Any team trying to win a county senior championship for the first time has problems. It’s very difficult, you have to play extremely well but you also need the bit of luck.”

O’Loughlin Gaels have certainly had more than their share of that this year, coming from behind in almost every game, but in doing so also showing enormous grit and character.

“Our fellas never give up,” recalls Fogarty. “We led for a long time against Tullaroan but they came back hard. We just managed to hold them off. Against James Stephens, in the semi-final, we were leading coming up to the end but they got a goal and a point, went ahead. We were lucky enough to get the scores to come back in that one. Everyone knows about the two Gowran games (Kilkenny county final), we were under quite a bit of pressure, equalised deep into injury-time in the first game, looked dead and buried in the second game but kept going and got the breaks eventually.”

Beating Birr, long-time Offaly champions, in the Leinster final was one that could have caused Aidan a few sleepless nights. It didn’t. “If we weren’t involved, I’d have been shouting for Birr. I supported them for the last number of years, went to all their games. I’m with O’Loughlin’s now, they’re my team, so it was a case of doing everything we could to beat Birr. It was a very proud moment when we did, beating the four-time All-Ireland champions, the best club side of all time in my opinion.”

A different job to do this weekend, a very different job. Newtownshandrum have a style all of their own, a style O’Loughlin’s won’t have met in either Kilkenny or Leinster.

“We’ve only seen them on TG4 and on video, but people tell us they have a running style of play, very good at their inter-passing, throw the ball around, find their men well. But when you’ve played for a number of years, every team has something different about them; Newtown are just something new again for us. You can watch them all you like on video, on television, but you have to actually play against them to know exactly how to deal with their style of play. On Sunday, we’ll find out.”