Brendan McTaggart speaks with Carey’s manager, Eddie McCloskey ahead of the Faughs All-Ireland semi-final on Sunday.

It’s been 10 years since an Antrim team has won an All-Ireland semi final at the intermediate grade.  That accolade belongs to Rossa who memorably won the competition in 2014.  How the men from Ballyvoy would love to be the team that breaks that Saffron duck.

On Sunday, they make the journey to Páirc Tailteann, Navan on the crest of a wave after a scintillating championship run so far.  They’ve produced the goods when it’s mattered, they’ve put their green army through the ringer but if you ask anyone with a connection to the Carey club, they wouldn’t change a thing about this 2024 championship.

Loughgiel All-Ireland winner, Eddie McCloskey is the man in charge of the Faughs this year.  A shrewd appointment.  McCloskey was one of the best hurlers with the county for a number of years, some seen his retirement from the club scene as a bit of a surprise but he’s been making his mark pitch side. 

Eddie on the line in Carrickmore in quarter final

We found out a bit on how it all came about for him and Carey when we caught up with him: “I was in with Loughgiel senior Camogs with Benny Dillon last year” said McCloskey, “I wanted to get involved in hurling this year and had a few offers around this time last year but when Rocket (James Black) got in touch and told me Carey wanted me in, it felt like the right choice.

“I have connections in Carey – Stephen McGinn is a cousin of mine and I hurled along with Rocket and McCouaig at the County.  I knew the likes of Sean McBride and Caolan McCaughan through the schools as well, I think it was 2016 that they won the Paddy Buggy Cup.

“To be fair, it’s all paid off.  If every year was like this when it comes to coaching I’d be happy but I’d be realistic enough to know that it won’t always be the case.”

The Ulster championship has been somewhat of a rollercoaster for the Faughs.  That may be the understatement of the season so far.  Coming up against a Carrickmore side who defeated them well two years ago at the same stage, McCloskey said that he had a fair idea that they would meet if they came out of Antrim: “We’d always plan ahead but you’d never take your eye off the ball.  When the fixtures came out, we had a look at who the Antrim champions would play in Ulster.  We saw that, all being well, we’d play the Tyrone champions and that would more than likely be Carrickmore.

“We were prepared for every eventuality that day.  We knew it was going to be a tough test and had an idea it would end up with extra time.  We even had our penalty takers chose before the game although the boys never knew who would get the nod.

“Funny, when it came to the penalties, I felt very calm and relaxed.  We had full faith in the lads that were stepping up.”

The final against Swatragh was an epic battle between two evenly matches sides.  Carey showed enough in the final 10 to hold on as Swatragh laid siege on the Carey defence.  It took moments of individual magic but it was a total team performance to ensure Carey got over the line.  On that final, McCloskey added: “Over the last year, if you were to describe this side with one overriding attribute, it would be their character and how they refuse to give up.

“We knew with the weather that there was, it was going to be a battle.  The ref let a fair bit go during the game, it resembled a game of rugby more than hurling at times but we kept our composure.  We restricted them to shooting from range and to be fair, they struck a couple of worldies in there but I thought how the lads dug in during those closing stages, we deserved the win.

“The block from Caolan at the end and the number of times Rocket came out with the ball in that final quarter, it gives you a lift at vital moments.  At one stage I thought we were going to head to extra time but we were delighted to get over the line for this team and for the people of Carey.”

With some describing Carey’s style of play as being moulded from the Shamrocks in McCloskey’s time in the red and white, the Faughs manager said it’s not quite as simple as that: “We try to adapt and bring a bit of fluency to our game when we can.  We do our homework on the opposition and try to counter against that.  Against Swatragh, we did try and play with a deep lying half forward line but wanted Sean (McBride) to push up on (James) Friel, he’d be their lynchpin and we wanted to try and nullify his threat.

“We want the lads to be more efficient and clinical.  It’s something that we’ve been working on.  We want the lads to be more comfortable on the ball and making the right, smart choices.

“In the Antrim final against Glenariffe we looked to suffocate the space in our defence and counter the threat of their forwards.

“It was something that we identified at the start of the year.  We saw the stats from last season and Carey had a tendency to conceded goals.  If you look at our record, we’ve done a fair job in sorting that out.  It’s about finding out the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition and profiling our players from there.”

It’s all systems go for Sunday and after confirming a clean bill of health from the Carey camp, McCloskey said that they’ve been doing the tried and tested as they prepare for the Watergrasshill challenge: “Our mindset hasn’t changed.  Every game this year we’ve just been looking to the next one.  The only difference with this one is there’s a bit more on the line but we’ve went about this game exactly how we have every other game this year.

We’ve done our homework, identified their strangths and weaknesses.  They’re a good side, you don’t win Munster and reach an All-Ireland semi final as a bad side and it’s going to be a massive challenge but we’re looking forward to it.”