THE smile on Paul Boyle’s face slid off more quickly than snow from a hot shovel. Finding out that Dunloy would be their Antrim SHC semi-final opponents was like being smacked in the kisser by a Lurgan spade.
The other option, Cushendall, wouldn’t have been easy, of course, especially after the Ruairi Ogs won their group meeting comfortably earlier this year, by 4-22 to 0-19.
- Loughgiel far too slick and accurate for St John's and set up Dunloy clash
- Loughgiel on the path to catching Dunloy and Cushendall feels captain Declan McCloskey
Yet the Loughgiel full-forward was well aware that the Cuchullain’s represent the toughest test not only in Antrim but in Ulster at present.
We’d chatted for several minutes before I delivered the news of that last four pairing – and the 22-year-old’s face fell:
“Is it Dunloy we get, aye? Ah, f…. Well, Dunloy are the kingpins. They were a couple of pucs of the ball away from winning the All-Ireland Final. Jeez, they’re some team.
“That’s the real acid test, isn’t it? Massive, massive. Dunloy are the team to beat. I thought they were probably unlucky in that final.”
Boyle broke onto the Antrim senior scene this year and saw some of the Cuchullain’s stars at close quarters: “I would know a few of them through the county season this year and they’re all unbelievable hurlers. We’re a very young team. We’re finding our way, we don’t really know what we are.
“Jays, they’re going for five in-a-row, they’ll be massive, massive favourites. [Laughs] We’ll probably just give it our best, but I don’t know…They’ll be a massive test.”
The Bathshack Antrim SHC semi-final showdown will be these clubs’ first Championship clash since the final of three years ago, so a first such meeting for Boyle:
“Even the league has been played during the county season, so it’s never really been full on. I think the last time we played Liam Watson and all were still playing 2020; I haven’t played them in championship.
“They’re slick moving, a great side. It’s a game everyone looks forward to. We’ll give our best and hope for the best.
“There’s more in that team as well. Beating Slaughtneil last year was massive for them and they’ll want to push on and go that one step further, so they’ll be motivated too.”
Off the pitch, Boyle has been busy. Delayed coming out to speak after their comprehensive quarter-final win over St John’s – in Dunloy – I joked that he was more hygienic than his Shamrocks team-mates:
“I haven’t showered in about three days, working with sheep, so I needed to!,” he replied. “Part-time farming at home, going on for PE teaching. We farm maybe 200 sheep at home. Keeps you occupied – keeps the mind off hurling when you’re not out training or running round the pitch.”
He’s studying for a PGCE (Post-Graduate Certificate in Education) in Post-Primary PE at Ulster University’s Coleraine campus: “One year, then that’s me hopefully a fully qualified PE teacher.”
He’d excelled in his Sports Studies at UU Jordanstown, achieving first class honours, but was still glad to get onto the Coleraine course: “It’s ideal, I don’t have to go away or leave home. If not Coleraine, I would have had to go to Liverpool or Loughborough.”
Following his first season with Antrim – “Loved it, great experience. It’s first class, Darren [Gleeson] and that set-up is second-to-none – he starred against the Johnnies, scoring 1-7, all from play.
“I don’t really keep count,” he laughed. “I’d been sort of struggling throughout the rest of the championship season. I’d been reflecting coming off, wasn’t really happy with my own performances.
“Then Hugh and Paul, James and ‘DD’, all the management team, they’re brilliant, fill you full of confidence. They always make you feel 10 feet tall when you go out onto the pitch. I was happy enough – improved anyway.”
Indeed he feels the Loughgiel team overall didn’t click until Sunday past, perhaps because it was ‘do or die’: “I don’t know. We just huffed and puffed [before]. We weren’t doing anything different. Knockout hurling, we seemed to step it up a bit. We always knew, playing St Enda’s, Ballycastle, and Cushendall, there wasn’t much jeopardy in those games.
“When your back is to the wall that always seems to be when you step it up.”
That’s the tough situation Loughgiel find themselves in now. If they can defeat Dunloy, Paul Boyle will be grinning from ear to ear.
