More to come from Loughmore - Sweeney

By Shane Brophy

Every player will use a defeat differently to focus on the next challenge, some will put it to one side, but some will use it as fuel to go again and that is what veteran Evan Sweeney did to get himself ready for 2021.

“You start the year and say you start from scratch but the devastation of last year is a hard thing to remove from your mind and that drove us on,” he said.

“That could have been the extra thing, last year’s disappointment but we have some talented players.

“Maybe the hurt last year drove us on; we were not going to give up.

“The wides came and came and came and we thought here we go, but we regrouped and composed ourselves and drive on.

“It is an unbelievable feeling to win with the lads. We are delighted and it means so much to the parish, especially after last year.”

Sunday’s success is Sweeney’s third county hurling title with himself, Ciaran and Noel McGrath the only surviving playing members from the 2007 success which heralded the club’s latest period of success.

“There is more to come from this team,” he said.

“We have been renowned for starting slowly but we don’t plan to do it, but it just happens, but the third quarter seems to be good for us and we drove on from there and got over the line.

“The hurling and football helps as it changes our mindset from week to week, we are not focused on one thing the whole time, so we are delighted.”