Mark Bergin: We're the lucky ones to represent O'Loughlin Gaels

An O’Loughlins win against St Thomas’ on Sunday will mean a clean sweep for Kilkenny clubs across the three levels, previously achieved in 2020.

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC: Mark Bergin of O'Loughlin Gaels, Kilkenny, pictured ahead of the AIB GAA Senior Club Championship Hurling All-Ireland Final. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

On paper, it’s not difficult to understand why Mark Bergin is captain of O’Loughlin Gaels.

Now 34 and their free-taker from what feels like the year dot, he is the only All-Ireland SHC inter-county winner in the team. Along with Stephen Murphy, he is also one of two survivors from the side that started the club’s last All-Ireland senior final appearance 13 years ago, a 12-point paddling against Clarinbridge.

But it’s when he speaks that Bergin’s leadership qualities are most apparent. All the right notes are struck. “We're the lucky ones who have been given a green and white jersey to represent O'Loughlins next Sunday,” he says.

“But there are an awful lot of past players and other people who put a huge amount of effort into the club to get us to where we were. O'Loughlins will continue for many, many years. Our careers won't.” 

Turning 35 in April, Bergin understandably feels that more than the three twentysomethings Mikey Butler, Huw Lawlor and Paddy Deegan who now comprise half the Kilkenny defence.

It's also why he savoured his third Kilkenny SHC medal last October more than the previous two. Now married and a father, he is not as focused as much on himself as he might have been in 2010 and ’16.

“Really hit home in 2023, what it means to people outside the group as well, receiving phone calls from people in the club who are an awful lot older than me who remember a time when the club were junior and who always wanted a day like this to come.

“Our own club president (Tommy Gregg) is still alive, he’s well into his 80s. I dropped the cup up to him after winning the Kilkenny championship and it means an awful lot to those people.”

AIB ambassadors, Mark Bergin of O'Loughlin Gaels and Fintan Burke of St Thomas'.

Bergin had a couple of spells in the Kilkenny camp, being part of the 2012 All-Ireland winning group before being let go and returning four years later.

“I think one of the most important things is that while hurling is extremely important to me any everybody else, it is not the be-all and end-all either. There are other things in life more important.

“In around 2013-14 that really hit home and I think my performances kind of reflected that. I was fortunate to get called back in and played a part in Kilkenny reaching the final in 2016 , so I look back on my own Kilkenny career with nothing but fondness.”

Besides being an inspiration to O’Loughlin’s inter-county defenders, Bergin knows his friend and former team-mate Brian Hogan has made a world of difference since coming in as manager.

“He's brought a huge freshness to the thing. He surrounded himself with great club people, Alan Geoghegan, Alan O'Brien, Nigel Skehan, who have played for the club before. They reminded us what it means to represent O'Loughlins and how lucky we are to do that.

“I think as well the age profile of the team. over the last maybe five or six years we've started an awful lot of the younger lads. They're obviously a few years older now and they're appreciating just how difficult it is to win a Kilkenny Championship.

"There's a great spirit amongst the team as well. There's a good unity both on and off the field. We're extremely close off the field too. And winning the tight games has been huge.”

An O’Loughlin Gaels win against St Thomas’ on Sunday will mean a clean sweep for Kilkenny clubs across the three levels, previously achieved in 2020 when Ballyhale Shamrocks followed Tullaroan and Conahy Shamrocks’ successes.

Bergin was heartened by the support a victorious Tullogher-Rosbercon showed Thomastown as they took to the pitch in Croke Park last Saturday.

“I don’t know if you saw the Tullogher team clapping Thomastown out on the pitch, that is what it’s all about. Thomastown and Tullogher wouldn’t be a million miles apart from one another in Kilkenny, and to see that support was great.

“One of the Donnellys referenced it in an interview after the match, he kind of said he hoped O’Loughlins can continue the trend.

"That’s hugely important too, obviously we all want to win a Kilkenny championship but only one team can so you get in behind them too, they are representing Kilkenny so we are hoping for good support again on Sunday.”