Munster Club SHC Semi-finals: Keith Dugganon the teamwork and spirit that have a club from a small Tipperary parish dreaming of Munster and maybe even national success

Every so often, the eclectic winter All-Ireland club competition produces teams that play and behave as though nothing can faze them. This has become something of a pattern in recent years, with the Galway football champions Caltra and Cork's hurling village of Newtownshandrum proving unstoppable once liberated from the pressures of the local arena.

Loughmore-Castleiney, the reigning Tipperary senior hurling champions, have not made any grand boasts about their plans between now and next March. But as they prepare for tomorrow's absorbing Munster semi-final meeting with Adare, the Limerick champions, they have already established themselves as a serious and ambitious team.

It is not bad going for a small club that was traditionally known as a stubborn football enclave in the Premier County.

"It's funny how these things go," acknowledges Pat McGrath, who was one of the stars on the last - and first - Loughmore senior team to take the Tipperary title in 1988.

"When I was growing up football was dominant. The club was originally set up as a football club, even though it would be very close to Thurles town and the hurling tradition there. I'm not sure why that was. Father JJ O'Rourke came on the scene and he introduced hurling bit by bit. And I suppose Tipperary was so strong in the 1960s that it had an impact on all of us growing up then. You would be wishing you were Jimmy Doyle, or whoever.

"So it began to take off. I suppose when we won the minor title in 1976, it began to get serious. We have been fairly competitive since that time."

McGrath, whose son Noel plays on the senior team, has greatly enjoyed following the team's form through the Tipperary championship. The final victory, over Drom and Inch, was achieved with surprising ease, on a 0-22 to 0-13 scoreline.

It was a display notable for the sharpshooting performance of Evan Sweeney, whose father, Eamon, is on the management team. McGrath's brothers Frankie and Michael also train and manage the team.

Although Loughmore have some well-known names - including former All-Ireland-winning defenders Paul Ormond and David Kennedy at the heart of an impressive defence and Micheál Webster, the gangly, leaping front man whose father, Eddie, backboned the club's footballers a couple of decades earlier - Loughmore are decidedly a team without stars.

That said, Pat McGrath reckons they are probably more polished than their 1988 predecessors.

"Well, this team is more skilful. There were good players at that time too, but, in terms of preparation and what is provided, it is superior now. We got as good as what was going then, but I suppose methods are better now. I suppose they have an obvious target man too in Micheál Webster.

"Micheál has developed into a great team player in the last couple of years. He is doing what he is good at - catching and distributing and doing the hard work for the smaller guys. He is happy doing that.

"Every player knows the job they have to do. They don't leave it to someone else or try and take on more than they are capable of doing. They are honest."

Loughmore's modern record would suggest that honesty has been a constant characteristic of their teams. They are no flash-in-the-pans.

The first mention of any notable hurling success was when Loughmore NS won an underage title in 1943. But that was it until the same school triumphed again in 1975.

By then, there was regular hurling coaching in the club, and after winning the Tipperary intermediate title in 1980, the club made it to the senior final just three years later. They won three divisional titles in the following seasons, lost the 1987 senior title to Cappawhite and then claimed their first county championship over Bobby Ryan's Borrisoleigh, the reigning All-Ireland club champions.

Johnny Gleeson, the current goalkeeper and captain, has a memento from that match. "I was 11 years old and they were making a video of the match and they asked us a few questions afterwards. We thought it was great. And it is a nice thing to have. Hard to believe that 19 years would pass before we won it again."

Even after winning in 1988, the club was committed to both sports.

"We were doing fairly well in the football too throughout that period," recalls McGrath. "Nine or 10 of us would definitely have been playing on both teams regularly. But that was a big win for us. Myself and Bobby would have been great friends, although we would only have met on the hurling field. Bobby would hardly kick a football out of his path; he was pure hurling."

Loughmore's rise to prominence coincided with the emotional Tipperary hurling renaissance. After recapturing the Munster title for the first time since 1971, Tipperary engaged in a passionate tussle with Galway the following year and, by 1989, a strong team was probably reaching its peak under Babs Keating.

With Loughmore-Castleiney the county senior hurling champions of 1988, McGrath was nominated to captain the county team.

Tipperary, of course, swept the 1989 All-Ireland championship with a facile win over a talented but inexperienced Antrim that September.

In an ideal world, McGrath would have been the first Tipperary man to lift the McCarthy Cup since Tadhg O'Connor in 1971. However, McGrath could not force his way into Keating's plans and, as he was relegated to the bench, his friend Bobby Ryan assumed the captaincy.

Although the disappointment must have been keen, McGrath kept on training and won his All-Ireland medal. He got too much enjoyment out of Gaelic sports to let that knock-back eat him up, and he still lines out at junior level for the club football team, though his hurling days are over.

The McGrath name has, of course, remained high-profile through the exploits of his son Noel. One of the brightest lights on the national minor scene, Noel McGrath has already won two All-Ireland medals at the grade and turns 17 next month. He was just eligible for the senior grade by a matter of days and will play minor for the county next summer again.

His performances for the senior team, particularly during the tumultuous closing minutes of the Munster quarter-final against Erin's Own, were eye-catching. Clever and brave in open play, McGrath looked utterly fearless as he stepped up to crack two vital frees in the last 10 minutes of the match.

As with many young players, McGrath's schedule is crammed when it comes to hurling duties, but his father says he had no fears about allowing him to line out for the club. Perhaps it made it easier that his uncles were involved in the coaching?

"Well, I would be anywhere Noel would be anyway in relation to games. Noel was mad hungry for this last year and we held back on him. He played a few minutes here and there and that was it. But to try and stop him this year would have been impossible. And Noel is a member of the team and that is how he is treated. He is no different.

"And the key is that there is no real pressure put on him to train because he is playing a lot of matches. It is the same with any of the other lads. The team management have been very sensible that way.

"But nobody has dragged or pushed him there. He wants to play senior there and he doesn't want special treatment. He doesn't want to be told to stay out of the thick of things. He just wants to do well for the team."

That ethos courses through the team. As Gleeson puts it: "We are a fairly level-headed bunch. It took us a while to get the balance of the team right. But since I moved into goal, this is as happy as I have been in defence. We haven't conceded a goal for the past five matches and I suppose we all felt that we wanted to see how far we could go in this year."

They might have been forgiving for bowing out honourably early in the second half against Erin's Own, when the Corkmen had found their second wind and begun opening up the Loughmore rearguard with devastating runs and smart passing.

From three points up, the Tipperary champions found themselves trailing by two, and the path to Webster, their early source of scores, was blocked off. But against the run of play, they created a goal and used that reprieve ruthlessly, reclaiming the pattern of the game and forcing Erin's Own to play catch-up to the final whistle.

"You would have to be worried when we went two points down," admitted McGrath. "That was a five-point turnaround and you had to ask how our lads were going to get back in the game. The goal came at a vital time though, and it was our way of wiping a two-point lead.

"And it put them in the driving seat. Frankie and the other boys in management are excellent in keeping the players' feet on the ground. Celebrations haven't been too much in the way of things. But at the same time there is no blanket ban on going out or things like that.

"You can't keep lads in cotton wool for seven days a week and expect them to perform for you. The players themselves know what it takes at this stage."

Adare, three times Limerick champions in the last six years, are itchy to make some impact on the Munster scene after crashing out in each of their previous attempts. Progression will demand another big afternoon from the Tipperary champions.

It remains to be seen if this run will mean a few Loughmore men featuring on the county sides next spring.

"They will probably have a look at a few guys," reckons Pat McGrath. "We have guys stretching from Noel, who is 16, to every year through to 30. Guys like David Kennedy and Paul Ormond and Webster would be up near 30 and it goes down. So it's a balance. And it took a while to find the best team. We had a shortage of forwards.

"Paul Ormond was up there for a while. Tom King was there. But eventually guys did well when they got their chance, men like Eddie Connolly, who was a natural wing back and has probably become our top scorer from open play over the last three or four games.

"So we have a lot of lads playing well. But it is hard to make that breakthrough at county level, especially for older guys. But I hope they are looked at again."

The last time Tipperary had a Loughmore-Castleiney man nominated as captain, it wasn't a bad year for the county.

Perhaps there is an omen in that.