How Graeme Mulcahy created history in Kilmallock's SHC win
The list of men to captain Kilmallock to a Limerick Senior Hurling Championship is an impressive one
IT IS not surprising given the hurlers Kilmallock have developed over the years, but the list of men to captain the Balbec to a Limerick Senior Hurling Championship is an impressive one.
It sees every Limerick hurling team at every age-group has at one Kilmallock player in the side.
The production line of players, both historically and in modern times would be the envy of most clubs in Limerick and beyond.
Philip O'Loughlin, Paudie O'Brien and Gavin O’Mahony have captained the club to county title glory since the turn of the millennium, Mike Houlihan and Paddy Kelly in the 1990s with club legends Mike Carroll, Dominic Hayes, Tony Moloney, Mossie Dowling, Mick Heelan and Tom O'Donnell also having the honour of lifting local sport’s biggest prize on Shannonside.
Of all the club heroes who have captained the side to glory, one man has now done it twice.
Twelve years on from lifting the Daly Cup in Mackey Stand after Kilmallock defeated Na Piarsaigh, Graeme Mulcahy repeated the trick under similar circumstances on Sunday.
Mulcahy played a captain’s role in the 2014 scoring 0-4 from play and scored the injury time goal this time around to secure a 13th county title for the south Limerick men.
Last time Mulcahy raised the cup aloft at the TUS Gaelic Grounds, he didn’t have to wait long to secure more silverware, a month after the SHC success, the Balbec defeated Cratloe at the Ennis Road venue to claim provincial honours.
Kelly and Houlihan also lifted the Munster club title in the green of Kilmallock so November offers Mulcahy the chance to join Cathall King (Na Piarsaigh) and David Punch (Patrickswell) as a two-time provincial-winning skipper.
The immediate thought, however, for the five-time All-Ireland champion was a return to the winners’ circle in club colours.
“It’s been five years since we were in a final, to get back here was an aim of ours - to win it was a bonus,” he said after the three-point win over Na Piarsaigh.
“We got relegated in the league this year, so to win a county is unreal for us.”
While Sunday was a fifth county medal for Graeme’s collection, for the likes of star Shane O’Brien, it was his first.
“He was phenomenal today,” said Mulcahy of his fellow attacker. “The goal was sensational, one of the goals of the county finals over the years - and it came at the right time for us.
“If we hadn’t got that goal, we would have been under pressure, particularly in the conditions, so it gave us a bit of breathing space in that second half.”
But, as everyone in the crowd of over 5,000 people knew would happen, Na Piarsaigh came back swinging, taking the lead in the last 10 minutes.
“We had a good bit of fight there in the end,” Mulcahy said. “We got obviously a fortuitous goal (scored by Mulcahy himself) that probably made all the difference in the end.
"They put us to the pin of our collar, they are a fabulous team, have been good representatives for Limerick in the last decade and we’ll go on now and try to do the same.”
They get the chance to do so when they travel to Waterford to take on Deise kingpins Ballygunner on November 15.
The three-week gap between county final and provincial semi-final offers time for both celebration and reflection before Mulcahy’s side will return to the training field this week. With a 13th local title in the bag, Kilmallock are just two wins away from a second Munster success. Ballygunner, Glen Rovers, Inagh-Kilnamona and Thurles Sarsfields stand in their way.
Kilmallock’s county championship-winning captains: Tom O'Donnell (1960), Mick Heelan (1967), Mossie Dowling (1973), Tony Moloney (1974), Dominic Hayes (1975), Mike Carroll (1985), Paddy Kelly (1992), Mike Houlihan (1994), Gavin O'Mahony (2010), Paudie O'Brien (2012), Graeme Mulcahy (2014 and 2026), Philip O'Loughlin (2021).