IN TIPPERARY, THE romantic storylines cleave to Nenagh Eire Óg this weekend as they approach the county hurling final. It’s been 30 years since the only time they have taken possession of the Dan Breen Cup.

And yet, with a loss in the football semi-final last weekend, how could anyone consider that Loughmore Castleiney give up their title without a severe test?

“You have to make the most of what you’ve got,” says Noel McGrath, speaking after being named the Gaelic Writer’s Association ‘Hurling Personality of the Year,’ sponsored by Dalata Hotel Group.

“You’re not always going to be competing, you know. It comes in plenty of years where we were down and we weren’t getting to quarters, getting to semis.

“And when you do get that far, God knows who will be competing and where some teams will be, you know, so you just make the most of it when you can and you try to do your best when you get the chance.”

Back in the club colours in early August against Templetuohy. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

After doing the double last year, the same feat has eluded the mid-Tipperary men this season after their football semi final last weekend ended with a two-point loss to Kilsheelan Kilcash.

Ask McGrath for the reasons they are able to compete on two fronts, and he breaks it into simple, manageable chunks.

“I know it’s always said and that, but you just literally do have to just take the weekend ahead of you, go at that as best you can, prepare for it as best you can.

“And you wake up then on Sunday or Monday after your match and worry about what’s coming for the next week.

“We’ve 35, 36, 37, that’s training every night, everybody hoping to play whatever part they can and to push the thing on, like, and we’ve been competitive, I suppose, over the last five or six years every year.”

While the threat of rural depopulation haunts the future of GAA clubs, Loughmore Casteiney are pushing back against all prevailing trends.

Many players are building houses and raising their families in their tiny area sandwiched between Templemore and Templetuohy.

I’d say the vast majority of us are still around at home and there are others now too who are building in the parish and coming back after living away in Dublin, Cork, Galway or Limerick,” says McGrath.

“It’s important, because it’s hard to keep the numbers going all the time. To have people living and building in the parish is a big plus and hopefully it will sustain the club over the next five, 10, 15 years. There’s good numbers of boys and girls there on a Saturday morning from four years of age up to 12.”

McGrath’s own son Sam will be joining them in a couple of years. In the meantime his family is growing after he and wife Aisling recently celebrated the birth of their first daughter, Aoibhín the day before their semi-final win over Holycross-Ballycahill.

Noel and Aisling, along with their son Sam and Michelle Cook after the All-Ireland final win. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

Sam has become a familiar face around the place, pictured with his father after their All-Ireland win under the Hogan Stand, and on TV with the club in recent weeks.

“It’s lovely to be able to do it, to be honest. When he was born, bringing him to Croke Park was something I always thought would be a lovely thing to do and hoped for but we hadn’t been getting to Croke Park,” he says.

“So you were wondering if you would ever be able to do it. But the way the whole year turned out and to have him there both days in Croke Park was great. I suppose he won’t remember being out on the field or in the dressing room but myself and Aisling will. We have the photos to show him in the years to come and they’re great memories.”

With a few months passed now since their astonishing second half performance that decimated the Cork challenge, how does McGrath see the Liam MacCarthy that virtually nobody outside the Premier County saw coming?

“We were so far from…” he begins, before switching tack, “It’s always in your dreams and every day I go out as a player in a Tipperary jersey I believe the team can win, so you’re always thinking there is a chance here, there might be a chance, but you have to be realistic about things too and we needed to get our house in order.

“At that time in January, February, sure an All-Ireland and Tipperary weren’t even being spoke about in the same bracket really, but the team just picked momentum and results can change things very quick and when we went to Galway and won the first round of the league and beat Wexford the following week, you had two from two fairly quick, so that builds confidence and builds belief in what was being done and the training and players that were getting on the pitch and how well they were doing.

“We were very consistent throughout the league apart from the league final. I know we lost to Limerick as well but you were performing, you were doing well every day, so that just grew the belief.”

He continues: “We were well off last year, we were well on it this year and that’s just down to a lot of factors, that’s what you can’t even put your finger on.

“I’ve been lucky enough that in my first probably 10 or 12 years with Tipp we were competitive nearly every year. We weren’t always winning but we were in a good position every year and you always thought you had a right chance and then them few years there where we just weren’t at the races.

“There’s no other way of saying it and you’re wondering how is this ever going to turn. That day in Limerick we showed great fight that day and we turned up but I still think we lost by seven or eight points, you know, and you’re not going to be happy going home from any championship match losing by that.

“People being pleased with that was a weird feeling and one that didn’t really sit well with me or wouldn’t ever sit well with me so it was disappointing. But them days, when you look back after this year, are days that you learn a lot about yourself and about the team and lads that stuck at it and really ground it out and stayed driving for the next two or three years when things weren’t going well and this year then you got your just reward for that.”

For now, he’s on club duty. He will turn 35 in December, so it’s only natural that he will be asked if he will be around to lend his considerable talents to a possible title defence for Tipperary.

“We’ll explore more over the next few weeks and once that finishes up, whatever way it goes, I’ll settle down for a couple of weeks and see how things are, as long as it’s good at home with the family and that,” he says.

“Look, all going well, I’d love to give it another rattle again, but at the moment we’ll see how things play out, but the plan will be to go again and see what happens, but we’ll fully decide come November, December time when things settle down a bit more.”