We love our hurling says Man of the Match Martin Feeney as Cluainin eye Connacht tilt

Cluainin’s Man of the Match Martin Feeney may have been limping pretty badly at the end of last Saturday’s Connacht Gold Leitrim SHC Final in Heartland Credit Union Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada but the Dromahair man was already looking forward to a tilt at this year’s Connacht Junior Championship.

A clear choice as man of the match, Martin stressed that the team performance was the aspect he was most pleased with rather than individual awards and he is certainly looking forward to the Provincial campaign: “I just wanted to put in a performance and overall the most important thing was the team. 

“Overall as a team, we were absolutely outstanding and looking forward to the challenge now coming up against Easkey. We haven't played them in four years so hopefully we can put in a good show and represent the county well. Hopefully give them a good rattle like we did in 21 when we lost them by a goal. 

“They went on and got to the All-Ireland Final after that and won a few Connacht so we really want to test ourselves against the best and they're one of the best so really looking forward to that in two weeks' time.”

Saturday’s 2-10 to 1-10 victory over Carrick on Shannon ended a heartbreaking run of three narrow final defeats in a row but despite that, Martin never felt it difficult coming back because playing hurling is so enjoyable as he sang the praises of the sport!

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“No” was his simple answer to the question about was it difficult coming back each before adding “To be honest we keep coming back because we enjoy it so much. We absolutely love hurling, I know it's a niche in the county but at the end of the day we want to keep coming back and keep playing hurling. 

“We'd love more games, more teams across Leitrim but it's just not possible or feasible at the minute. Every year this game delivers and we always look forward to it. It was a really physical game. Both teams put everything into it. Enjoyable too  every single year. I know it's only one game but every year it delivers and there's always one or two points in it.

“I know we've been down the last three or four years but there's absolutely nothing in the game, a puck of the ball every time. We’re just delighted to get across the line this year and it could have been easily Carrick's either but really happy with our overall performance. We worked really hard the last eight weeks, got a lot of challenge games in, a lot of miles on the clock so it was all worth it in the end.”

Listening to Martin speak about the sport, you wonder why more people don’t play hurling! “I just wanted to get stuck in as much as possible, get on the ball which isn't at all easy in these games because there's so many rucks and stuff but just happy to come out the other end of it to be honest.

“Get a few scores on the board and I was introduced to a shoulder straight away from Conor Hackett at the start of the game and that was it. I knew I was in the game straight away, exactly what we need. It's so physical, it's really enjoyable, it's nip and tuck, it's so even. There's nothing between the two teams, it can go either way, whatever way but just delighted to get across the line.”