Mulvey central to London success story

When Lorcan Mulvey packed his bags and departed for London in 2011, re-igniting his inter-county career was the furthest thing from his mind.

The Butlersbridge man featured for Cavan during the 2010 championship but it ended in disappointing circumstances, picking up a red card during their defeat to Wicklow in the qualifiers. By accepting a job as a site manager in south London, he was forced to call time on his Cavan career, but little did he realise he was moving to a county where both the footballers and hurlers were about to scale new heights.

Mulvey was an interested onlooker as London defeated Fermanagh in the 2011 qualifiers, their first championship victory since 1977, and after he inspired Fulham Irish to their maiden senior championship later that year, it was only a matter of time before Paul Coggins came calling.

Now he finds himself central to the Exiles’ latest fairytale, after his 1-2 against Sligo helped them cause the upset of the summer.

“It’s a great feeling; if only you could bottle it!” he said. “In terms of personal achievements it has to be right up there. London hadn’t won a Connacht Championship game since 1977, so it was a massive day.

“The hurlers put down the marker last year by winning the Christy Ring and moving up to the Liam MacCarthy, and now we’re following their lead.

“Paul [Coggins] has to take a lot of the credit. He’s put in a serious amount of work; I don’t know how his poor wife is coping with the whole thing! I hope people start to acknowledge the work that is being done over here.

“The shock has finally happened so hopefully people will now look at us a team that needs to be respected,” added Mulvey. “That is the main word: respect. We respect every team we play and now we demand that from others.”

One notable difference ahead of throw-in last Sunday was the difference in size between London and Sligo. The hosts were physically bigger and made it count, and Mulvey knows they hold a similar advantage when they travel to Carrick-on-Shannon on June 23.

“Myself, Caolan Doyle, Mark Gottsche, Paul Geraghty, Damien Dunleavy, Ciaran McCallion, Greg Crowley — they’re all six foot men. Some of them can play football too!

As well as their added bulk, Mulvey says continuity has been the key for London’s latest success.

“This majority of this squad has been together for over three years,” he said.

“In recent years the difference between ourselves and counties back home is that they are playing together all the time, they’re used to each other.”

“Well it’s the same for us this year. We’ve kept the bulk of the squad that played Mayo in 2011 and the new lads have gelled. It takes three years to build a team, that’s what Paul has been preaching for the past week. That patience has paid off.”