Loughgiel looking to wipe memory of six consecutive lost finals

To lose a county final, at any level, is a huge blow, especially when your club has been in the doldrums for a while; to lose two, devastating, surely. To lose six, then, and to lose those six in succession, how must that feel? How do you come back from that?

That is exactly what happened to Liam Watson and his Loughgiel Shamrocks team-mates, six Antrim senior hurling finals lost from 2003 to 2008 (inclusive), and yet - fair testament to their resolve - come back they did.

Last year, 2010, having been beaten in the semi-final of 2009, Loughgiel finally made the breakthrough, beat their nemesis Cushendall in the final. For Liam, redemption.

“Aye, it was a long wait, we’re brave and hungry for success now. Whenever you've been beaten in six finals in a row it’s tough, but we’re really strong at the minute. There was a burden always, and growing. It got to the stage where everyone knew we were going to get to the final, including ourselves, and initially it was playing on the brain of the younger players but eventually it even got to the older players, they were starting to doubt that it was ever going to happen.

“But we got a new manager in, PJ O’Mullan, and he brought a lot of experience with him, he settled the whole thing down. Everything went right for us last year, we had no real injuries, but in a few of those six years we had a wee bit of bad luck, injuries in semi-finals and that.

“In one final we were eight points up at half-time against Cushendall and maybe the younger ones – myself included – began to think this is it, we’re going to win this one here, but the whole thing just seemed to fall apart after half-time. It was tough.”

There’s a wisdom out there that says you have to lose one to win one, but perhaps in Loughgiel’s case that can be amended – according to Liam, the fact that they didn’t make the final of 2009 was probably a major factor in their eventual success. If nothing else it broke the losing sequence in finals, changed the terms when they got to the final of 2010.

“To be honest it seemed as if it was a weight lifted off our shoulders not getting to the final. Getting beaten in the semi-final, we had a wee bit of a longer break, didn’t do as much pre-season training last year as usual, no slogging your guts out again, so everyone was that bit more keen to get back - it worked out well for us.

“It came down to mental strength, and we were always going to keep going 'til we got over that line. Happy enough now to see what’s coming in front of us.”

What’s coming in front is an All-Ireland club semi-final date in Parnell Park this Saturday with Kilkenny champions O'Loughlin Gaels – a daunting prospect, yes, but after what Liam and Loughgiel have gone through in the last decade, how bad?

And Loughgiel, remember, have history in this competition also, but positive history, champions of 1982/83. Let no-one think this is a foregone conclusion. No-one.