Just after 11am in Clarinbridge and Liam Donoghue and Noel Conlon are already on the field warming up ahead of a goalkeeping session before training begins at 12.30. A couple of minutes later, Micheál Donoghue pulls up outside the gate, his car stacked with training gear and two of his three young sons. His second-eldest Niall clambers out from among the flotsam and jetsam in the back seat before making straight for the pitch and into the arms of his uncle.
The Donoghue brothers are twins but hurling has always helped to tighten that natural bond. They won All-Ireland minor medals together on their 18th birthday in 1992 and bagged All-Ireland U21 medals a year later. They both played senior for Galway, while Liam captained Clarinbridge to their first county senior final in 1997 and Micheál captained them to their first title in 2001. Injury forced Micheál to retire in 2004 and when he took over as Clarinbridge manager two years ago, his brother subconsciously had to sign up to a hierarchical agreement in their relationship for the first time.
“It’s a pain in the ass at times having him as manager,” Liam says, tongue in cheek. “You can imagine your brother constantly telling you what to do. No matter what he says, you have to agree with him, even if you don’t half the time. If you were at home, you’d just have it out but you just have to sit there and take it. We’re close and we talk every day but there is none of that telepathic crap between us.”
On the walls of the Clarinbridge clubhouse above the dressing rooms, the Donoghues’ faces are a consistent presence in the collage of framed photographs from all the successful Clarinbridge underage and senior teams of the last three decades. Liam though, is the only current player whose senior career stretches back into the black-and-white pictorial history. This is his 21st year playing senior club hurling.
The photos chronologically paint the picture of the club’s emergence from relative obscurity to their arrival as a force, their decline in fortunes and now their second coming. Two years after Clarinbridge won their second Intermediate title in 1994, the baton was almost immediately passed to their golden generation of underage talent. A bunch of rookies took Athenry to extra time in a replay of the 1996 county semi-final before Athenry went on to win the All-Ireland. They went a step further in 1997 but Sarsfields beat them in the county final.
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It took Clarinbridge four more years to make the breakthrough and when they finally did, they were the first club to smash the Sarsfields-Athenry duopoly of dominance, which had spanned nine years. “I think it inspired a lot of other clubs, especially Portumna,” says Donoghue. “They had experienced fierce heartbreak in the previous few years and I’m sure they were thinking, ‘If these guys can win a county title, so can we.’ So you could say that we created a monster.”
And then they couldn’t tame the monster. For four successive years, Clarinbridge fell at the hands of Portumna’s sword. Along with Loughrea, they were the only team in Galway who were able to front up to Portumna but they just couldn’t crack them. In the 2008 quarter-final, Clarinbridge were ahead heading into injury time when Portumna edged the game with a goal. Portumna went on and won their third All-Ireland in four years.
“We always felt that if we could avoid Portumna in a prelim quarter-final or quarter-final that we might have a chance of beating them with a couple of games behind us,” says Donoghue. “People in Galway always said we were underachievers but we kept running into serious teams — Sarsfields, Athenry and Portumna.
“The biggest problem we had was putting consistent performances back to back but we’ve managed to put six or seven decent performances together in the last few months and it has given us huge confidence.”
After losing their opening two championship games, they were staring down the barrel of a gun against Beagh last July when they scrambled a draw to keep them in the championship. They were three points down with two minutes remaining in the county final replay against Loughrea before coming back and taking the game in extra time. They looked dead and buried in both normal time and extra time of the All-Ireland semi-final against De La Salle. Again, they found a way.
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The journey has led Donoghue back to Croke Park for another All-Ireland final, six years after he captained Galway in the 2005 All-Ireland senior final defeat to Cork. He captained the side again in 2006 but Kilkenny defeated them in the All-Ireland quarter-final. The avalanche of scores Kilkenny accumulated that day began with Donoghue dropping a long ball into the net. He never played championship for Galway again.
“It was a pure disaster,” he says now. “The first half of that game was probably the worst 35 minutes I ever played in my life. I must have been responsible for around 1-3 or 1-4.”
When Ger Loughnane took over in 2007, Donoghue got just one chance in a league game against Dublin and Loughnane never picked him again. He had endured Loughnane’s penal winter training regime but the manager approached him during a session that May and told him that his time was up.
“Loughnane wanted to put down a marker but I knew I was going to be in trouble after the Dublin game because he blamed me for one of their two goals,” says Donoghue. “I have no regrets about it. The day he told me I was gone, we shook hands and I ran out the gate. I knew my number was up but I’d just had enough of it. I know my last championship game was a disaster but it doesn’t bother me now.”
Donoghue has had plenty of life lessons since. In February 2008, his wife Sophie was diagnosed with leukaemia. “It’s just one of these things you never think you’ll have to deal with but Sophie has made a huge recovery,” he says. “She has gone back to college now and we’re just looking forward to the future.”
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During the tough times, hurling was his one constant. Donoghue was joint-manager of the Galway senior camogie team in 2008 when they reached their first All-Ireland final in 10 years. He was manager the following year when his playing career looked in jeopardy after he tore the cruciate ligament in his knee. He was 35 but he became so obsessive with his rehab after the operation in April that he had targeted returning for a county semi-final in October. Everything appeared on course until Mullagh defeated them in the quarter-final by 11 points.
Making another All-Ireland club final was a distant fantasy back then but now they’re back, nine years after they last appeared at this stage. That team was so young and inexperienced that Donoghue, along with his brother, was the second eldest player on that side and Birr just picked them off. This team has a more even blend of youth and experience.
Back on the field, Donoghue and Conlon work their way through the goalkeeping session with military precision; handling, striking, reaction work, feet-work, plyometrics. The goal-shooting at the end is always Donoghue’s favourite part because he is one of the most natural hurling shot-stoppers of the last decade.
His spring is still there. So is the sharpness in his eye and the speed of his hands. He’s still got the talent. And the desire. “All I want is to win this match,” says Donoghue. “Because this is probably my last shot at the big time.”
And this time, he finally wants to make it count.
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ALL-IRELAND CLUB SHC FINAL
Clarinbridge (Galway) v O’Loughlin Gaels (Kilkenny) At the end of a dreadfully flat championship, Clarinbridge’s match with De La Salle was like a tonic.
With Portumna beaten Clarinbridge emerged quietly from the pack in Galway and entered the All-Ireland championship without much recommendation. The depth of character — and hurling — required to beat De La Salle upturned all that, giving them an injection of self-belief.
Meanwhile O’Loughlins sit sharpening their claws, turning every eulogy to Clarinbridge into a slight on them. They don’t reside among the monied gentry of Kilkenny club hurling but their pedigree matches Clarinbridge’s.
O’Loughlins have crossed all sorts of obstacles to make it here, downing favourites and scraping through some tight spots. Apart from Martin Comerford and Brian Hogan, O’Loughlins have been sharpened by plenty of players who endured bit-part careers with Kilkenny. Settling those hashes has lifted O’Loughlins.
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Clarinbridge are dotted with redemptive stories too. Alan Kerins’s form against De La Salle was a delightful aside and Croke Park’s wide open spaces will suit them. Maybe Clarinbridge have mustered enough momentum to sweep past O’Loughlins. It’s hard to see O’Loughlins letting them by without grabbing a fist of jersey and pulling them into a battle. If they do, it's O’Loughlins to win.