Francis Loughnane ……. Everybody’s Favourite Hurler

Sunday 19th December last marked 50 years to the day from Roscrea’s greatest ever day as the became the first winners of the All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling title. One of the stars of that team was Francis Loughnane, a stylish hurler who is rated among the greatest players to ever wear a Tipperary jersey. LIAM HOGAN met with him to his discuss his memories of his illustrious hurling career

Former Tipperary legend Mackey McKenna describes Francis Loughnane as his favourite ever hurler, and in another era, would have won than the successful career he went onto have, for both club and county.

From the moment a fifteen-year-old Francis Loughnane that lined out with the Roscrea minor hurling team that won a third county championship in a row in 1960, he was destined to be a star.

He went on to add three more minor titles in both division and county, with two under 21 county titles in 1964 & 1965 following as he was already a star in the making with the blue & gold as went on to win almost everything there is to win on the hurling field including All-Ireland wins with club and county as well as under 21, Club Sevens and Inter-Firms, with the All-Ireland minor in 1962 the only medal to slip from his grasp.

There were also Munster title, National Leagues, Oireachtas Cups, Wembley Tournaments, Railway Cups, Shinty and so on. Such were his displays that he won three Carroll’s All-Star awards in 1971, ’72 & ’73.

If that is not all he won North Tipperary Nenagh Guardian Player of the year in 1971 & ’73, along with Tipperary hurler of the year in 1972. He was no mean player with the big ball irrespective of the shape, round or oval, either.

Making the grade

Roscrea enjoyed enormous success at minor & under 21 club levels throughout the 1960’s and it was only a matter of time before he would make the number 10 shirt with the Tipperary minors. The Munster final win, 4-11 to 4-1 over Cork in 1962 was followed by victory over Antrim in the All-Ireland semi-final, before the Premier faced Kilkenny in the decider. Tipp had lost the previous two finals and defeat would be their lot again.

The Nenagh Guardian reported that Tipp were much too casual in their approach. They trailed at half time but clawed their way back to draw level after three quarters of an hour. However, Kilkenny regained a two-point lead and approaching the final minutes Tipp had won a close rage free. Francis Loughnane considered going for goal but a call for a quick handpass by Michael ‘Babs’ Keating was chosen. However, the referee penalised Keating for standing too close and awarded a free out to Kilkenny. The Cats rallied with Tom Walsh crashing home Kilkenny’s third goal to ensure a 3-6 to 0-9 victory. It was a cruel blow for Loughnane, and his fellow Roscrea players played on the team including Philly O’Rourke, Owen Killoran, and Paddy Delaney.

Senior Debut

Tipperary entered the inaugural All-Ireland Under 21 Championship in 1964. Francis Loughnane was made captain and led his team to a huge victory over Cork in the Munster quarter final at Tipperary Town. The game was played on a Sunday evening. Loughnane had earlier travelled to the game in the same car as Len Gaynor having already marked him earlier in a North Tipperary senior hurling championship game. The journey was worth it as Tipperary won handsomely and went unbeaten through Munster leading to an 8-9 to 3-0 victory over Wexford in the All-Ireland final.

Loughnane joined the Tipp senior squad in 1967 but his involvement was curtailed due to a broken jaw received in the North final that year. Loughnane’s turn to join the panel would come during the summer of ’68 and he scored 2-6 in a 4-12 to 2-6 win over Galway in a challenge game in Portumna.

It was ideal preparation for the big day in Croke Park but in the weeks leading up to the big game against Wexford the number of injuries in the Tipp camp increased with Jimmy Doyle’s ankle injury a major worry as the six-time medal holder was a pivotal member of the attack.

Loughnane takes up the story. “A few weeks before the game Jimmy received an ankle injury, but Ossie Bennett (Tipp trainer and masseur) assured everybody that he would have Jimmy ready for the big day. Jimmy played on the big day but wasn’t going so well. It was his ankle because his hurling was perfect,”

Tipperary, determined to erase the defeat against Kilkenny the previous year, produced a very good first half performance and led 1-11 to 1-3 at the changeover. The mentors were worried about Jimmy Doyle who appeared to be limping.

“When we went into the dressing rooms at half time, I was told I was going in for Jimmy five minutes into the second half,” Loughnane revealed.

“Jimmy would walk off himself. Ten minutes had gone, and the selectors were getting desperate. With a quarter of an hour remaining the selectors finally made the decision to call him off,” said Francis as Wexford came from behind to shock Tipperary 5-8 to 3-12.

Leaving the disappointment of losing the final behind them Tipp were back in action in October with Loughnane at left wing forward sharing the forty with Jimmy Ryan and Noel Dwyer as over 9,000 spectators witnessed Tipperary claim their eighth Oireachtas title in a memorable win over Cork. On November 19th he made his National League debut against Waterford and he scored four points. In 1969 Loughnane captained Tipperary to victory over Wexford in the annual Wembley Tournament but lost to Cork in the Munster final later that year.

Winning an Oireachtas medal was particularly important at the time and even more so with the public as over 20,000 patrons passed through the turnstiles to witness Tipp beat All-Ireland champions Cork in the final at Thurles in 1970 with Loughnane the winning captain once more. Two years later he won his third Oireachtas memento after Tipp accounted for Wexford following a replay at Nowlan Park.

In between those victories there was the All-Ireland senior success of 1971 when Loughnane.

“The Munster final was full of tension, unreal,” he said of the win over Limerick in Killarney.

“Birr was ideal for the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway. It was really a home venue for me, only ten minutes down the road. We conceded a lot against Galway and indeed we conceded a lot in all our games,” said Loughnane who scored seven points against the Connacht side.

The subsequent success against the Kilkenny was sweet for Loughnane who earned the Nenagh Guardian player of the week award.

“I was marking Martin Coogan that day and scored four points in the first half,” he recalls.

“Scoring 5-17 that day was some score but some of the goals were of a soft nature. It was an eighty-minute final and when you play hurling for eighty minutes, you know all about it especially if it is a fast mobile game.

“It was very tense in front of over 60,000 spectators and when you walk out on the field you can hear nothing and takes five or ten minutes before things begin to settle down.”

It would be 1973 before Loughnane and Tipperary would reach another Munster final when taking on Limerick, this time in Semple Stadium, Thurles. The day was one of mixed feelings for Loughnane who captained the team while scoring 2-10 of Tipperary’s total of 2-18 but ended up on the losing side as they conceded 6-7, including a disputed winning 65’ by Richie Bennis.

“I scored two goals at the Town End,” Francis recalls.

“These are the days you dream of. They may never happen again.

“If you look at a video of the game. The ball went out for a seventy and the umpire’s hand went up. The ball was pucked out to me and you will see me pick up the ball and hand it to Richie as I would not throw it at him. I walked ten yards away as not to distract him and little did I think what would happen. Some of the players said the ball was wide in the dressing room after the game but I don’t know.”

Despite missing out on another Munster medal, the Roscrea man won his third All-Star in a row at right wing forward and led the roll of honour at that time with Limerick’s Pat Hartigan and Eddie Keher of Kilkenny.

“It was great to win one when they came out first,” he said of the All-Stars which is also celebrating it’s 50th anniversary this year.

“We were invited everywhere around the country. Carroll’s cigarette company were the sponsors and treated us very well and the next thing we got a trip to America. This was huge. They presented us with green jerseys, green togs, and socks. Even a batch of cigarettes with big cartons left into our bedrooms. I didn’t smoke so I brought them home to my friends and relations.”

That 1973 Munster Final against Limerick was his fourteenth championship game, including nine victories and one draw. Between 1974 & ’79 he played six more championship games losing four and drawing two with the one-point defeat to Cork in 1979, his final championship appearance. He missed the 1977 clash with Clare.

Except for winning Oireachtas titles, Tipperary enjoying little championship success in the 1970s.

“At the time I didn’t think I would fail to win a second All-Ireland medal,” he admitted.

“I thought after 1971 I would win two or three more. It didn’t happen and was a different ball game after that. Everybody has to give one hundred and twenty percent in a game. Giving eighty or ninety or even a hundred is not enough because the opposition is on the same wavelength. It’s a huge thing to win an All-Ireland.”

Loughnane had his other shining moments though and led Ireland to success against Scotland in a Shinty International in 1972 while he helped Munster win a Railway Cup medal in 1976 and in addition, he played with the province against New York in the Cardinal Cushion games in America.

The 1978/79 season was a special one for the Roscrea man. Tipperary competed in division 2 of the National Hurling League and went unbeaten through autumn 1978 and the spring of ’79. He earned the B&I player of the month award for March as Tipp reached the knockout stages, beating Galway in the final.

“I only won one league medal, but it matched an All-Ireland medal, and I hadn’t won one up to then,” he said.

“We were so near umpteen times. I enjoyed the Shinty, but I broke my thumb one year. I was due to play in the North championship and I was selected to play in a shinty international as well. The Roscrea selectors warned me not to go. I said nothing but sneaked of to play in Scotland. Where were you last weekend I was asked. The truth was revealed when I played with a broken thumb against Lorrha in the north semi-final.”

Roscrea

Loughnane’s brilliant hurling career coincided with Roscrea’s rise through minor and under 21 levels. Roscrea won six county minor titles in a row from 1958 to ’63. It was a great time for the Loughnane family with Harry, his late brother, being a part of the first two and Francis the last four. Roscrea won four North U21 titles from 1961 to ’64 and adding two county titles in ’63 & ’64. The 1964 win against Cashel King Cormacs, played late December, was a low scoring encounter, 1-1 to 0-2, the final score but the low scoreline was not the only talking point.

“I was wing forward. Peter O’Sullivan, the Cashel goalkeeper, and who played minor and under 21 with me on the county team, was brought outfield to mark me,” he said.

“We had a row and the next thing we were both sent off. The officials from both clubs went to the referee at half time to tell him he could not send off two inter-county under 21 players. The referee said he had no option but after some discussion he allowed us back on.”

With a load of underage medals in the drawer it was only a matter of time before Roscrea would become a leading senior club in the county. Francis played in fourteen North senior finals from 1963 to ’85, winning seven, one better in terms of county final wins having appeared in thirteen Dan Breen Cup deciders.

Winning his first county title is one of his favourite memories.

“I will never forget when we came home to Barrack Hill,” he revealed of the 1968 success over Thurles Sarsfields.

“John Joe Maher was the coach, and he had a pub in the town. He was the life and soul of the club. The Roscrea club had little by way of money, and he often put his hand in his own pocket buying hurls and sliotars and continued to do so right up to the time he died.

“The whole of Roscrea came out to celebrate our first county final. Remember we had great teams in the 1940s & 50’s but we never got through. Then we came out of nowhere in ’68, the start of a great era winning in ’68, ’69 & ’70. Losing in 1971 was a disappointment before winning in ’72 & ’73,” said Francis who was the winning captain in ’68 and ’73.

“North finals were also taken seriously,” he added.

“We dreaded the other clubs because we had won very little at the time. The next thing we started to win and almost every day we went out and won.

“We had great players like Patsy Roland and Kieran Carey. Joe Tynan was the best goal-scorer I ever saw. He was always hanging around the square and that little tap-in. We had Tadgh Murphy and the late John Dillon.

“Mick Minogue was the best thing ever to happen Roscrea. He came from Knockshegowna and was worth two men at midfield. We had three players I would love to have on any team, Mick Minogue at midfield, Jackie Hannon at centre forward and Michael Nolan at full. You could not have better. They did all the heavy work.”

To top it all, Roscrea were the first winners of the All-Ireland Club Championship when they defeated Offaly’s St. Rynagh’s in 1971, but the Roscrea players were not happy with the venue of Birr.

“We cribbed with our officials for agreeing to play St. Rynagh’s in Birr. That was their training field we felt,” Loughnane said, however, Roscrea won by two points.

Does he enjoy the modern game?

“I would love to be hurling today,” Loughnane said excitedly.

“It’s a much simpler game. In my day we were seventy to eighty percent of the day minding ourselves because it was so physical. There was always a few hard knocks given.

“Today is different. The referee is looking after you. It’s so easy to anticipate where the ball is going to land. I could read Tadgh O’Connor like a book and Tadgh would be reading me.

“I would disagree with all the hand passing. The ball should be over the bar instead of players trying to work the ball inside the opposition twenty metre line in order to score.”

“I never wanted to see a new ball thrown into me when taking a free. The rims were too high and had an effect on rising the ball. The old balls, years ago on a wet day used to ooze water. They soaked up the wet but today they are waterproof.

“I had many good days. Looking over a twenty-year period we were playing either a county semi-final or a final. Any team who beat us we were hoping they would go on and win an All-Ireland club final.

“I have won every honour in the game and I grateful to all those who helped me along the way. When I decided to hang up the boots, I had no problem. My time had come. I played inter-county until I was 35 years of age and at forty when retiring from the club scene. There are not many players you can say that about today.”