Loughmore-Castleiney’s John McGrath makes the difference in Tipperary hurling final

Eamonn Kelly, manager of Loughmore-Castleiney, got across two pertinent messages after the club had won the Tipperary hurling title for the fifth time on Sunday. The first was recognition for his corner forward, John McGrath — All Star and twice an All-Ireland medallist — who once more demonstrated that he can apply the highest standards at club level.
McGrath’s 1-13 had predictably been the significant component of Toomevara’s defeat and his 60th-minute goal had closed the book on the final.
“He got another man-of-the-match award today,” said Kelly. “To get it in a county semi-final and a final, hats off to him.”
The other acknowledgment by the manager concerned Loughmore’s extraordinary status as a consistently successful dual club. Next Sunday they face Clonmel in the football final, hoping to add another double to that of 2021.
McGrath lined out for the Tipp minors against Dublin in the famous 2011 All-Ireland minor football final.
More recently, it was another 60th-minute goal by him that completed the 2021 club double by defeating next Sunday’s opponents Clonmel when the latter were one match away from a three-in-a-row.
On Sunday he spoke about how tight the match had become after Toomevara’s late goal had threatened a tightrope conclusion in a fixture that had gone to a replay for the previous three years.
It was McGrath who provided the game-breaker.
“I just saw the ball was going to break in behind and in the wet conditions any bit of a flick — there was no guarantee if you were going over a ball that it’s coming up. Just trying to get a bit of pressure on the defender. I’d say if you saw it back, the strike probably wasn’t brilliant. It just squeezed over the line, which was enough.”
The focus now switches to Sunday’s football final. He said that at this stage the team is on automatic pilot. Fourteen of them are expected to start both finals. They are used to extended sequences of fixtures, week-on-week, and are not too fixated on the destination that they can’t enjoy the journey.
“You don’t get to these days often enough to be worrying about next week. You have to celebrate these wins when they come around. We’ll knuckle down on Tuesday or Wednesday and prepare for the football again.”
When that’s done, they will be lining up the Munster championship in November. If all goes to plan, the club will be playing two provincial semi-finals in successive weeks. The hurling is a slightly sore point in that three years ago, Loughmore lost a controversial Munster semi-final to eventual All-Ireland winners Ballygunner.
McGrath and brother Noel were both sent off. They could be reprising that match with the perennial Waterford champions. McGrath says that you can’t obsess about the past.
“It’s like any other game we’ll be looking forward to. We’ll play the football next week, see where that goes and then see where we are next Monday morning.”
In the thick of it, probably. As usual.