Potential provincial title is extra motivation for McLoughlin
Only one aspect of Knockmore's county championship success in 2020 grated somewhat – the fact that they couldn't go on and represent the county on the provincial stage. Covid-19 saw to that.
“When we won the county in 2020, a lot of the lads were relatively happy we had won that. We didn't overly think about it, but still a lot of guys in the weeks leading up to Christmas were saying it would have been great to have a go at the other sides in Connacht, to see where we would stack up,” said the club's most experienced player, Kevin McLoughlin, during the week.
Today, McLoughlin and his team-mates play Roscommon champions Padraig Pearses in the 2021 AIB Connacht Club SFC final. It finally gives them a chance to add a provincial title to the county crown, something that motivated them from the start of last year.
“The obvious goal was to win the county again and then to see how we would fare against the best in Connacht,” said McLoughlin. “That was a motivation going into last year.”
The 2020 county title was Knockmore's first since 1997. Their last of three Connacht successes came in 1996, so today represents a great chance for this team to elevate itself among the greats of the past.
On the 2020 county championship win, McLoughlin said: “It was massive, a huge achievement for us. A few of us are on the older side but it still quite a young team; three of the guys were minor the year before.
“We knew we had a good team and the start of the year we knew we had a good chance, but we also knew that things had to fall our way; we had to play to our strengths.
“I think last year things weren't as fluent, for whatever reason. But we have learned to be a bit more dogged, we have grown a small bit. We're not the same team we were in 2020.”
Perhaps they're better, perhaps even the best in the province. We'll find out this afternoon at James Stephens Park, Ballina. The throw-in time for the final between Knockmore and Padraig Pearses is 1.30 p.m., with live coverage on TG4.