Luke’s return great news for club and county
Gerry Buckley
Yours truly got the phone call I had been dreading on the morning of April 29 last.
When I saw that the number coming up was that of Westmeath manager Mark McHugh – and all Gaels nationwide are feeling for him and his family since the news broke yesterday of the tragic death of his uncle James – I knew it was confirmation that the county’s marquee forward Luke Loughlin was going to miss the rest of what transpired to be a memorable campaign for the men in maroon and white, his ongoing hamstring injury requiring surgery following his starring role in the Leinster quarter-final defeat of Meath.
The Donegal man’s request to me was straightforward – to spread the news, locally and nationally, assumedly that it would leave nobody in any doubt whether The Downs maestro would be fit to play four days later in the provincial semi-final against Kildare (whom he had almost defeated singlehandedly a year earlier in the quarter-final), or play any further part in the races for the Delaney Cup and the Sam Maguire Cup. Of course, a fantastic win in the former was followed by a highly creditable run in the latter.
However, the main losers would be his club, whom he led to Flanagan Cup success last year. Remarkably, however, Loughlin reappeared in the famous black and amber-striped jerseys as quickly as last Sunday (August 9) and a huge roar greeted his return to the fold as a half-time sub in a repeat of last year’s county final against Coralstown/Kinnegad.
His every touch of the ball was scrutinised as he eased his way back in to football. Many feared that he may have come back too soon, but class is permanent, and he ended the contest with a haul of 0-4 (a brace of left-footed two-pointers, one each from play and a free), in addition to supplying a probing right-footed delivery which led to Niall Mitchell’s crucial goal in a great 1-13 apiece draw.
This was the holders’ second share of championship points in as many matches – Loughlin did not participate in the opening draw against St Loman’s, Mullingar – but what looks like a favourable sequence of upcoming matches should see Dermot Power’s troops through to the knockout stages, when they will be expected to challenge strongly to retain the blue riband trophy in Westmeath football for the first time since their legendary three in-a-row team of 1968 to 1970.
Loughlin’s intentions with regard to playing club hurling with Clonkill are unknown.