At 34-years of age, Eddie McCloskey has won five Antrim Senior Hurling Championships, four Ulster club titles and an All-Ireland Club Championship back in 2012.
The last of those county titles came back in 2016 and Loughgiel have slipped behind North Antrim rivals Dunloy and Cushendall in recent years.
Yet, the Shamrocks never lose belief that the Volunteer Cup will make its way back to their village, regardless of how their season is progressing. That’s just how it is in Loughgiel according to McCloskey.
Read more: Loughgiel will relish semi-final showdown with Cushendall says Hugh McCann
“Every year you put on this jersey you think you can win a Championship,” said McCloskey.
“I do anyway since I’ve started to hurl senior and that’s the way it has to be. Loughgiel is Loughgiel.
“I think any young hurler in Loughgiel with aspirations of hurling at senior level has to believe they can win a Championship and I genuinely do. It is going to be tough. You’ve got Cushendall in the way, but we’ll approach it like any other game.”
McCloskey is one of only a handful of players who remain from the All-Ireland winning squad of 2012, but he rolled back the years with a vintage performance in Sunday’s impressive 16-point defeat of Rossa in the Antrim SHC quarter-final at Dunsilly.
With 0-6 from play, McCloskey was Loughgiel’s fourth highest scorer with Shan McGrath (1-4), James McNaughton (0-8) and Paul Boyle (2-4) contributing to their handsome victory.
After a few injury plagued seasons, the former Antrim star is relishing the competition for places in the current squad.
“It has just been a continuation from last year - my Achilles have been giving me a bit of bother. I feel good now and it is just about managing the body at this point,” said McCloskey.
“Maybe the workload has to be decreased a bit when you get over the 30 mark.
“We’ve got a youngish panel there and everybody is driving everybody on. It is great they have the youth behind them and they’ve legs and the energy and that’s what you need in any successful team.
“You’ve seen the young lads come on and James (McNaughton) is back and that gives us the added energy - maybe they can do a bit more running than the older boys!
“It is a team sport and you need everyone putting their shoulder to the wheel to be successful and I think we have that in our team.”
After finishing third in Group Two behind Cushendall and St John’s, Hugh McCann’s side needed to come through a quarter-final test against Rossa to book their place in the last four.
They’ll now face the Ruairi Óg’s for the second time in the Championship at Ballycastle on Sunday, October 2 (2pm) with defending champions Dunloy taking on St John’s at Dunsilly on the same day at 5pm.
McCloskey feels Loughgiel have improved with each game, but is expecting another dogfight with Cushendall.
“If you look back at our run of games in the Championship so far, we played St John’s and we’d a terrible first half and played much better in the second half,” reflected McCloskey.
“Against Cushendall, it was vice-versa, so it was about putting the two halves together.
“Against St Enda’s, we played well throughout the whole game and I think Rossa was a better assessment of where we are at.
“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves - Cushendall have beaten us twice this year. We’re up against it. Cushendall were probably watching that game (against Rossa) and they’ll not be worrying too much about us.
“Winning is contagious, yes, it gives you momentum, but Cushendall are coming off the back of three wins in the Championship too.
“You know what you are going to get against Cushendall. It will be a dogged game - they are not going to want you to play hurling. At the same time, they can hurl. We know each other fairly well and we know what to expect.”
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