By Michael McMullan

KEELAN Molloy is the holder of five championship medals but it’s always about the search for the next one.

After losing to Ballycastle on his debut in 2016, he has been among a group of young guns that have blended into their senior ranks.

The following year, he scored two points in their win over Cushendall on final day. The Volunteer Cup had green and gold ribbons for the first time in eight years. The Creagh lorry was getting hosed to truck their heroes through the village.

Molloy modestly sums up his career to date as a “pretty good run” and their next outing pits them up against the ‘Dall in Sunday’s decider in Ballycastle.

“We lost last year but everybody just thinks of the next one and the next one,” Molloy said.

The five wins get some chatter but it’s always about the now. This week is the same.

“Last year was bad for us because we were going for the five in a row that nobody had done,” Molloy added when prompted to look into the past.

“When Loughgiel beat us, it hit us hard but you have to go back and try and get it back.”

Dunloy are on 16 titles. One ahead of Cushendall. Ballycastle have 17. Loughgiel have 20.

Molloy doesn’t talk about these numbers. It gives context to the history Sunday’s game will be written into.

Dunloy’s 2024 championship to date can be divided into four sections. Wins over Rossa and St John’s got them going. The final group game with Cushendall is the second part, a signpost. Top of the group or second. Dunloy came up short.

“Cushendall were a better team,” Molloy admits. “There’s no other way of buttering it up. They played better, they were hungrier and they caught us on the night.”

It forced a glance back towards the drawing board. Part three of the championship. Knockout. A quarter-final. A banana skin. But Dunloy didn’t slip.

Part four. A chance to right the wrongs against Loughgiel.

“We’re going well, we’re training well and hopefully picking up at the right time,” Molloy summed up. “Our game against Loughgiel was probably our best performance this year.”

Not just in terms of their stuck work. Winning a game that really mattered. And it’s a local rivalry that never goes away.

“We don’t want to get beat by Loughgiel and they don’t want to get beat by us,” admitted Molloy, a workmate of county teammate and Shamrocks star James McNaughton.

“Last year they embarrassed us in Ballycastle and that put another bit of pressure onto the game.”

McNaughton’s eye for the posts wasn’t enough. Dunloy advanced to Sunday. There is that overused word for a championship game – massive.

“You’re going to have to beat Cushendall somewhere to win the championship,” Molloy said.

“We had the group game but that game’s not going to be the one that wins it. This game is massive, it’s massive for both teams, they’ll want to keep the title and we want to get it back.”

“It’s set up nicely for a game for a neutral,” Molloy concluded. “We’ll just worry about ourselves and we’ll get ourselves right. We’ll go and give it a crack and see what happens.”

Cushendall will be a tough nut to crack but if there is a Creagh lorry heading towards Dunloy on Sunday night, they’ll have cracked it.