Cunning plans to make amends for last year’s loss

CONOR CUNNING is a bit of an outsider in the Dunloy team. Well not outsider exactly — when you come from a Catholic village of a little over 1,000 people in north Antrim, you can’t really be an outsider. Particularly if you happen to be a hurler.

However, Cunning, whose father is chairman of the club, is one of only two Dunloy players not to live in the village. They reckon hurling has kept the parish populated with the youth. In most northern villages like Dunloy, people have fled to Belfast or Dublin, in search of work. In Dunloy, Gaelic games has ensured they all stayed around.

"Well, that was one of the original aims of the GAA when it was founded, to keep people in their area and to stop emigration," says Pat Cunning, father of the midfielder so vital to Dunloy's hopes of finally securing their Holy Grail this evening.