Tom McLoughney was exactly what he seemed - a big honest hurling-loving Tipperary man

Tom McLoughney

The intercounty career of Tom McLoughney, who died on March 6, proved brief but productive.

Born on October 23, 1940, he featured in attack with Tipperary for the senior All-Ireland triumphs of 1961 and 1962. Back to back NHL and Oireachtas titles were gathered in 1960 and 1961. McLoughney'slast appearance came as a sub in 1963's NHL Final, which Waterford took. He won two North Tipperary Senior titles in 1959 and 1965 with his club, Kilruane MacDonaghs.

John Costigan, former County Board Chairman, glossed his friend's emergence: "Tom didn't make the Tipperary minors, but starred for Kilruane in 1959's senior final against a brilliant Thurles Sarsfields side. Tom's display was massive in keeping that game competitive. He was a big raw full-forward, in the old style. But the Tipp selectors were impressed and called him in for the league, and he developed."

Costigan emphasises a revealing event: "There was a huge fuss about Christy Ring supposedly hitting Tom off the ball in the 1961 Munster Final. Tom hated that stuff, but made it clear he knew Ring wasn't the Cork player who struck him. Tom believed in leaving matters on the field.

"The Ring family really appreciated his honesty. Willie John Ring, Christy's brother, visited Tom in Tipperary for years, and vice versa. They had a tremendously warm relationship."

Gilbert Williams, author of the Kilruane MacDonaghs history published in 2016, offers local perspective: "Tom was our first clubman to win at senior with Tipperary. That can only be done once, and there is no exaggeration in saying he became an iconic figure for us. It was absolutely fitting that he was Club President when he passed.

"Tom was revered for many reasons but most of all for being such a likeable and laidback individual. He was completely unassuming. He just worked away in the club, same as anyone else. He would have been regretful about never winning a Tipperary senior title during his own career, and so it was all the better that he was there as a selector when we got three in a row between 1977 and 1979."

Williams adds a wonderful splash of colour: "Tom finished up, club wise, as goalkeeper in 1971. A very reluctant goalkeeper, it must be said. But he had the eye to do it. As a young fella, going to matches, I remember Tom being famed for the fearless way he'd put up his paw, as we would say, to catch a ball.

"I actually took over from him on the goal, and inherited his hurl. I could barely lift it... I ended up taking it to a sawmill near where I lived, to get some weight shaved off. He truly was a powerful man."

John Costigan likewise recalls a humble and shrewd figure: "We soldiered together as Tipp selectors in 1980, when Cork trimmed us. So we got our P45. But we became firm friends, and used travel afterwards together to a lot of matches, both inside and outside Tipperary.

"Tom was an excellent judge of hurling and hurlers. He didn't live in the past, or in his era. He was always on the lookout for new talent, wherever it came from."

Costigan turns moving and eloquent: "Like most of his generation, Tom left school early enough. He went farming at home, and he was an excellent farmer. Tom was exactly what he seemed on first acquaintance, a big honest hurling-loving Tipperary man. A lovely person, in every way.

"Tom McLoughney hadn't a bad friend in the world."