McLoughney’s passion for camogie rubbing off on next generation
By Shane Brophy
Talk about perseverance. 21 years after pulling on a Tipperary jersey for the first time, Aoife McLoughney will finally get to play in an All-Ireland final for the first time on Sunday.
The 34-year-old first played for Tipperary at adult level in 2008, two short years after Tipperary’s last final appearance at senior level which was their eighth in a row and the then nineteen-year-old didn’t think she’d have to wait so long to play in a final herself.
“The first time I pulled on a Tipp camogie jersey was when I was thirteen and that was 21 years ago,” recalls the Shannon Rovers club-woman.
“When we were growing up, I would spend every year going up to Croke Park to watch the likes of Deirdre Hughes, Noelle Kennedy, Suzanne Kelly, Claire Grogan, all of these girls and I knew I could do that and someday I would hope to get there.
“The last All Ireland Tipperary were in was 2006 and I got onto the senior panel in 2008 and you nearly assumed it was going to happen that at some point I’d get that chance. The first year I was on the panel we lost the All-Ireland semi-final, and we never reached those heights again.
“Even for the junior team, the last time they were in an All-Ireland final was 2001 and we have girls on the panel that weren’t born in 2001 so unless you take these opportunities when they come it is not something you are guaranteed anymore with this game.”
When Tipperary were relegated to junior level after the 2021 season, it could have been the time for McLoughney to walk away from the inter-county game after such sterling service but not so.
“I did my cruciate in 2020 and I kind of nearly consigned myself to the fact that I was done and wasn’t going to get back,” she admitted.
“I was half stubborn and when I got asked back in, I felt like there was unfinished business because we got so close to making the breakthrough at both levels (senior and junior) in the last couple of years I was thinking what if they do it without me, I’d be disappointed considering I still have something to offer, whether that is on the pitch or in the dressing room. As long as I feel that I am contributing something I will stay doing it so that was the case this year as well.
“Some people have thought I am mad to stick at it but when you love it you stay at it.
“I set out over the last few years that this would be my last year but I’m still here and this would be some way to finish it if it is.”
McLoughney provides an invaluable level of experience to what is a pretty young junior squad who one day hope to wear the blue and gold at senior level and winning an All-Ireland junior title would be a huge staging post on that journey.
“With a junior team you are going to have that mix,” she added.
“Young girls that are starting out having just completed their leaving cert and then you have the middle group, and then you have the couple at the older end.
“Obviously there have been times in the past where we have made semi-finals before and the following year the team was dismantled because some girls have proved they are worthy to go up a level, so that is why when you get this opportunity you make sure you take them with both hands as they don’t come around very often.
“There is a big buzz around camogie in Tipperary at the minute, whether that is for the senior team making a semi-final or whether it is for us making a final, the minors are in a Munster final and the under 16’s were in an All-Ireland semi-final last week so there is huge work being put into camogie in Tipperary at the minute and you’d hope one thing drives the next because realistically there are probably a number of these girls here are looking for Denis Kelly to call them into a senior panel. And if you have success leading into your group it can breed more success.”
Aoife McLoughney’s passion for camogie is all consuming as she combines her preparation as a player on the junior team with that of being a selector of the Tipperary minors whose season came to an end last Friday with a Munster Final defeat to Cork.
“It has been mental,” she said of her commitment this year.
“My schedule this week is training tonight, with the minors Wednesday, training Thursday and a Munster (Minor) Final on Friday night. Pretty much since last October that has been my week.
“But having said that, if you don’t love it, you wouldn’t do it. I don’t know what they think of me at home, there’s nearly a board at home scheduling what training Aoife has each night, but I am really enjoying it.”
Home is Brocka, between Coolbawn and Ballinderry, and in a household with a very famous father in Pat McLoughney who starred in goals for the Tipperary senior hurlers during their lean years in the 1970’s and early 1980’s with his claim to fame being winning two All-Stars without ever winning a championship match for the premier county.
“Daddy has been huge in my playing career,” Aoife admits.
“My mam (Ann) has as well but daddy has really been the driving force behind it. To be honest, when we were growing up, I saw the environment he was in with hurling and training, as he still is.
“I always wanted to be like him. He’d always give the old dig at home that I have my All-Stars.
“They put a huge amount into me as a family as well to be able to play camogie to the level I have. I remember when I turned seventeen the first thing, he did was give me the keys of the car and told me to get to training on my own. They have literally been here every step of the way with me so whatever for me, for everyone at home it would mean a huge amount.”