Moycullen making most of hurling success

IN Galway GAA circles, Moycullen buck the trend.

The powerbase of hurling in the county lies in the strongholds in the south and the east, yet it is Connemara club Moycullen who bid to claim a provincial title in tomorrow’s Connacht IHC final against Roscommon champions Four Roads in Athleague.

The achievements of the town’s basketball team in the Superleague and their football prowess, which has seen local players Paul Clancy and Gareth Bradshaw star on the national stage with Galway, has tended to put hurling in the shade. But Moycullen manager Fergal Clancy, whose father Tomás played for the Galway senior footballers in the sixties and is a first cousin of Paul, has always prioritised hurling.

“Hurling would always have been my first love and there’s a lot of hurling people in the parish. We started out as a hurling club in the 20’s and were senior in Galway during the seventies as well. We’ve been challenging over the last 20 years at the intermediate without breaking through. When I was playing we were narrowly beaten by Portumna in 1992 and you saw what they have done.”

A fortnight ago they finally achieved glory, winning the Galway IHC final against Killimordaly.

The success means next year they will be the only club in Galway plying their trade at senior level in hurling and football.

The core of their side are dual players with Mark Lydon, a Galway senior footballer in recent years, one of four Lydon brothers in their hurling setup.

That will create challenges but for now their eye is on adding a Connacht IHC title to the IFC crown they won in 2007.

“It’s something we’ll have to look at next year to make sure the players are not being burnt out,” admits Clancy.

“But it’s fantastic for a town that has a great sporting tradition that we are now doing well in hurling. In 2008 we won the All-Ireland IFC club title and that achievement is what’s driving on the players now to do the same in hurling. But Four Roads are a strong outfit and they’ve some of the St Brigid’s senior football team, so this will be a tough hurdle to overcome.”