McLoughlin eager to add another Kanturk scalp as Sarsfields await

Lee Quilligan, Glen Rovers, Lorcan McLoughlin, Kanturk. Pic: Jim Coughlan.

Lorcán McLoughlin is one of 20-plus players carrying the Kanturk dual fight into the knockout stages of the Cork PSHC and SAFC. 

Of the dual players, 12 are regular starters on both teams. At 36, former Cork hurler McLoughlin's commitment to both means he has miles on the clock but a story to tell of his club's rise through the ranks.

That rise has now seen their appetite for success at the Premier Senior grade grow and their challenge has become a more legitimate one.

Kanturk's 11-point group-stage win over Cork kingpins Blackrock was evidence enough they were coming along nicely. 

That statement victory meant Tom Walsh's hurlers finished top of their group and sent the Rockies packing before the knockouts for the first time since the introduction of the new grading on Leeside.

It was a scalp they had been after for some time.

"Every day we've gone out there, there's been tough battles, even the first day against Fr O'Neill's and ourselves," McLoughlin said. "The second day against the Glen, I think we learned a huge amount and we really clicked against Blackrock.

"We were conscious as well of the damage that Blackrock can do and they've beaten us on two previous occasions, so I think the challenge was there. 

"Tom (Walsh) kind of set the challenge to get to the next level and find an extra gear and beat one of the top teams because it was something we'd fallen down on in recent years; playing a big team and knocking a big team out, and I suppose that's what we did against Blackrock as well.

"When you come out, certainly when you're playing a big team, it sharpens the mind because anything less than being right on the day, you're going to come up short."

That round three win has now set up a quarter-final date with reigning champions Sarsfields, as part of a Sunday double-header alongside the meeting of Charleville and the Glen in Mallow. Big games are coming thick and fast. 

McLoughlin has been there and done that, but does that feeling of excitement before a big game ever wane? Not a chance. 

"No, no, absolutely not. Even talking about it now, I get goosebumps," McLoughlin said. "This is what it's about, you know, double-header, Mallow, two huge games that are going to bring a big crowd and then you're talking about the county champions, you know, it doesn't get any bigger.

"The dressing room has changed so much over the years, even this year, Conor Noonan has come through with the energy and the young lads kind of keep that energy going as well, so it's exciting and the challenges just become bigger and bigger and again this weekend. 

"I can't wait in terms of that, you just go out and give it your all and whatever happens after that happens, but the excitement doesn't leave you, definitely not."

Johnny Crowley's Sars outfit stand in the way of this Kanturk side, who will no doubt have designs on reaching a first-ever Premier Senior semi-final, a feat they failed to manage when they reached the quarters in 2024. 

However, the task that lies ahead is a mammoth one, as McLoughlin details. 

"I'm sure it's going to be huge," McLoughlin said. "They're a team that time their run-in; they've been around the block.

"They've been the standard-bearers in Cork for the last 15 or 20 years. They seem to win a county title every other year and I know they'll be going for the back-to-back. They've gone back-to-back in the league; they won the championship last year, and they've been in Croke Park. 

"Like what can you say about the club, the way they carry themselves; they've set the standard and with those top teams, they don't drop their standards; you either get up to it and meet them head-on, or else they just beat you."