By Brendan McTaggart
Dunloy maestro, Keelan Molloy is one of the best players in the county but when it comes to interviews, he normally shies away. He prefers to do his talking on the pitch with his hurl or the size 5. After last year, he was one of a group of Dunloy players who elected to step away from the county panel before returning for the Leinster championship. Molloy gave us some insight into that decision and subsequent return to club action earlier this summer: “It was a combination of things. Long seasons with Dunloy, both codes and county commitments. It took its toll and we probably just needed that break. We needed to just forget about things for a while and it helped, it definitely helped.
“Greg (O’Kane) would give the lads that’s involved with the county an extra couple of weeks before coming back into the squad. It’s there and it’s up to you if you take it or not.
“We were keen to put last year behind us as soon as possible. We got together as a full group again from start of July and you could just see the hunger there again. There’s a desire to get back to the team that we know we can be and back to how we can play.”
From a Dunloy perspective, that decision has been vindicated. Molloy and the others have been looking back to their best, especially in the semi final against Loughgiel: “You look at that semi final against Loughgiel (2023) last year and we just weren’t at ourselves. We weren’t expecting what they brought and we were caught on the day. I think we definitely let some complacency creep in against Loughgiel.”
On this years championship and playing an additional game in comparison to previous years, Molloy was keen to look at the positives and how it’s worked in the favour of the Cuchullains: “We’ve been building all through the championship but not looking any further than the next game. Last year, we maybe took our eye off the ball a bit and looked beyond games but you couldn’t do that this year. It was a tough group with St John’s, Rossa and Cushendall.
“Things were going well but the Cushendall game definitely was a bit of a set back. It’s the first time we were in the quarter final but I honestly think it helped in the long run. It refocussed our minds again and it was maybe a wee bit of a reality check.
“We were maybe shocked more than anything. They did a number on us but we’ll take our learnings from that day.
“That Cushendall game was good for us in a strange way and having to dig deep against Ballycastle as well but we showed our hunger and resilience against Loughgiel in the semi final.”
The Cuchullains looked to be close to their best again in the last four as they swept aside the challenge of Loughgiel in the wind and rain. Molloy’s goal in the closing stages all but sealed the win and substitutes Nicky McKeague and Paudie Martin tagged on further scores. Molloy told us that they used the hurt from last years match and went out to right what they felt were a wrongs from 12 months previous: “It was in our head, there’s no point in telling you any different but we used that as the fuel, as a positive. We looked at ways that we could enforce our game. We were bullied and outplayed last year but we were a lot hungrier this time around.”
Sunday will be the fourth time in seven years the Cuchullains will meet Cushendall in the decider. These two know each other inside out at this stage and as Molloy finished off by saying, there’s an inevitability about the pair meeting: “When it comes to winning the championship, you know you’ll have to face Cushendall at some stage. We’ve nearly played them every year late in the day so you know you have them to contend with but look, we’re just preparing as best we can. We aren’t thinking on that game, that can bring a negative into your mind that just isn’t needed but we’re in a good place now. We feel like we’ve got our mojo back, the confidence is there and we’re in a good place coming into Sunday.”
