Stricken Morgan epitomises Kilruane’s strong bond

By Shane Brophy

Sunday will be a bittersweet occasion for Kilruane MacDonaghs Craig Morgan.

As happy as he will be for his club to be playing in a county final for the first time in 36-years, he will have to watch frustratingly on from the side-lines as he continues his recovery from a cruciate knee injury sustained in the round 2 clash against Nenagh Eire Og two months ago at The Ragg.

“It all happened very fast,” he recalls.

“I felt a pop alright. I just ended up on the ground and the pain was very bad for about a minute.

“In the back of my mind I was hoping it was something else. You feel you can play on, but it wasn’t able to put my foot into the ground.

“I went to Cork for the scan the following Wednesday and they told me then.

“It is just one of those things and I just have to get on with it.”

As the squad gathered in Cloughjordan last Friday evening to continue their preparations for the final, Morgan arrived much earlier for a recovery session at the teams specially created gym inside the Tomas MacDonagh Centre.

Morgan has had a couple of weeks to get used to the idea of not being able to play in a county final.

“It’s tough, but it is not about me,” he said.

“It is about the lads, the club, the parish. Coming in here this evening and see the flags around the place gives me a little motivation to go in (to the gym) and do my exercises. My knee will be fine but at the minute it is all about the lads and trying to get them over the line.

He added: “We are taking it some step at a time, the next training session, the next gym session, the next match and it is working well for us at the minute, so we are just keeping our feet grounded now and keep going.”

Craig Morgan is one of the younger members of the squad so wouldn’t have too many experiences of the disappointments of the near misses of not making county finals since 1986, particularly when they arguably had more talented squads at their disposal.

However, since Liam O’Kelly took over as manager at the start of 2021, there has been strong bond developed between this group of players that has seen them get the very best out of themselves.

“Liam (O’Kelly) has been excellent since he came in,” Morgan said.

“His main focus was getting everyone together, getting a real sense of togetherness and unity. He got the gym built and that really has been our home for the last two years. It’s where we have our meetings, do our gym sessions, our recovery, and Liam has been central to all of that.

“My own father (Christy) is involved as well and it has a real family feel. We have good craic as well, we don’t take it too seriously, we try to enjoy it as well because with everything that has happened over the last couple of months, you need to enjoy your hurling, meeting the lads and socialising and that is a very important aspect.”

That bond was also strengthened by the fact they were the opponents on the field when Craig’s Tipperary teammate and friend Dillon Quirke tragically died during the county championship match between the clubs in early August. The Kilruane players and officials were as impacted by the tragedy and inadvertently has led to them becoming more relaxed about their sport as they are lucky enough to still be able to play the game.

“People might say hurling isn’t everything, but it is everything as well, if that makes sense,” Morgan explained.

“Without hurling we wouldn’t be as close as we are. We wouldn’t be able to experience winning or losing.

“When things happen like that it makes you realise what is important, to still have the opportunity to play together.

“There is a strong bond since then.”