Toughest test ahead as McLoughlin and CIT cram for final

LORCAN McLOUGHLIN has grown accustomed at this time of the season to easing himself back into another third-level hurling campaign with Cork IT.

These months are traditionally the teething stages of the preparations for next spring’s Fitzgibbon Cup but instead this year the stakes are raised considerably higher. Next Sunday McLoughlin will lead his teammates into combat as they make their inaugural appearance in the county senior hurling final.

“It’s a different experience but I’m delighted to be in that situation,” remarks the Kanturk man. “Hurling in bad weather at this time of year is nothing new to us as that’s the classic Fitz conditions but it means a lot more to be doing it when you’ve a county senior final ahead of you. It’s a very satisfying thing that you start off the year on the short, cold evening straining in January and if you’re successful, you’ll be training in those same type of evenings at the end of the year. We’ve come full circle after all the effort that’s been put in this year.”

It all began in the Fitzgibbon Cup arena and while there was clear disappointment when they bowed out at the semi-final stage of that competition, CIT never let the impetus from that run slip away. They have negotiated the county championship hurdles impressively, with McLoughlin pinpointing the games against east Cork forces Erins Own and Bride Rovers as pivotal to their progression.

“If you turn back to the Erins Own game, they had us under serious pressure early on that night when they went up a few points. But we turned it around and that was a big win for us. Pat O’Connor made a massive difference that night when he went centre-back and he provides great experience. Then to come through the quarter-final against a team like Bride Rovers was great as they’re a club you really have to graft against.”

The semi-final generated odd emotions for the CIT squad as they had to pit themselves against Newtownshandrum, a team anchored in defence by Pat and Brendan Mulcahy, who were in charge of CIT in the Fitzgibbon Cup earlier in the season.

“It was very weird,” recalls McLoughlin. “If there’s one fella who’s added a lot of steel to us this year, it’s Pat Mul. Himself, Brendan and Maurice O’Sullivan did huge work for us with the Fitzgibbon and had a massive influence on us. It’s disappointing it didn’t work out for them with Newtown but there’s huge respect amongst our players for them.”

They have parked those feelings and are now focusing on next Sunday’s showdown with Carrigtwohill. For McLoughlin the opportunity to triumph with players he has hurled for years with at divisional level in Duhallow would be special.

“Kevin Roche, Brendan Withers, Aidan Walsh and myself have played together since we were very young. Then you’ve guys that you played Cork minor and U21 with. It’s unfamiliar territory for our players but we’re looking forward to it. It means a lot to us. A lot of guys are still in club action so that doesn’t make it easy for training but you look at a guy like Tommy Quaid, who gave up playing with his own division Emmetts in a Limerick semi-final to play for us against Newtown. That shows how important this is.”