Loughgiel boss wants better

Joseph Scullion, Loughgiel Shamrocks, in action against Conal McCloskey, Dungiven Kevin Lynchs. Loughgiel boss PJ O'Neill was not happy with his team's performance in this semi-final

SIXTEEN POINTS. Even winning by sixteen points was not enough for Loughgiel manager PJ O’Mullan Jnr.
That was the margin in the end against Kevin Lynch’s in the Ulster semi-final, but as O’Mullan knows, the tape never lies, and the stats weren’t all that complimentary to his players.
“We weren’t particularly happy with the game against Dungiven, even though the result was what we desired. We know that if we play like that again it wouldn’t be good enough to beat Ballycran on Sunday.”
This week, Loughgiel were looking around for a suitable venue to train. They had been due to get into Casement Park for a puck around and a short session on Tuesday, but given the incessant rain that fell over Sunday night and throughout Monday, they had to switch it to the 3G pitch at St Malachy’s school on the Antrim Road, Belfast.
With the genial Jim Nelson there as the main coach, O’Mullan is delighted to be able to say that their sessions involve using the ball from the first minute to the last. There is no chance of Loughgiel’s players being gym rats as long as hurling is still played with a stick and ball.
“We were out on grass last week and on grass over the weekend, so preperations are going ok. If anything since the semi-final, we have pushed on hard.
“That’s the way we train. I don’t know how many sessions we have done in the last two years, but we haven’t been in the gym. It’s all with the ball, even the warm-up, the stretching, it’s all ball on stick. We concentrate on nothing but total hurling. I have to give Jim [Nelson] the credit for that.”

To read the full coverage of Sunday’s Ulster Club Senior Hurling final buy the current issue of Gaelic Life