Tommy Kelly and Loughrea chasing historic three-in-a-row

The connection between the clubs has been evident again in the build-up to Sunday’s decider, with Kelly spotting plenty of Tommy Larkins’ red and black colours around Loughrea.

“Tommy Larkins have been a fantastic club over the years, there’s a great respect between the two clubs. When they won the county title back in 1971, my own brother Brian won a minor medal with Loughrea on the same day. In 2006, when I won a senior county medal with Loughrea, Tommy Larkins won the minor that day,” Kelly told Tribune Sport.

“There’ll be great craic between the two supporters. I was around Loughrea there today and there were nothing but black and red flags hanging out of cars.”

Loughrea booked their place in the decider with an impressive finish against Craughwell, scoring nine of the last ten points to secure a 0-20 to 0-15 semi-final victory.

While pleased with aspects of their performance, Kelly believes there is still room for improvement.

“Craughwell got so much right in the semi-final, the lads still left us with a stick to beat with them as well. There were periods of the game that we weren’t really happy with, there were periods of the game that we were very good in as well. We left plenty of work for the coaches to do to try and kick on for the next game,” said the Loughrea manager.

Kelly has assembled an impressive backroom team, which includes Galway U-20 hurling manager Gavin Keary, Kieran Corcoran and Shane Cusack.

“Everyone of them are working so hard for our club, it’s fantastic to see the energy that they bring every night to training. There’s nobody in there that doesn’t have a job, they're all working really hard for the players.

“There’s a great mix between the youth and the experience on the team, you see it in the dressing room, you see it on the field. There young fella’s talking to the older lads and there’s no corners or no sections, there’s no kind of groups or anything like that. They’re all the one,” added Kelly.

Competition for places has also helped keep Loughrea’s players hungry throughout their championship campaign.

“They are keeping themselves hungry with the competition in the squad, there’s great competition right through the squad. Unfortunately, we can only put out fifteen players at a time, that was probably a good thing during some parts of the year, I might nearly had to tog myself at one stage,” laughs Kelly.

Loughrea have also received a welcome boost on the injury front, with Cullen Killeen, Shane Morgan, Darren Shaughnessy and Anthony Burns all returning in recent weeks. Kieran Hanrahan remains sidelined with a ruptured Achilles.

“Thanks be to god, the medical team who have been fantastic all year and they got lads back on the field. There’s still one or two more to come as well.”

Kelly has also been encouraged by the younger players pushing for places.

“The players are responding, they are stepping up as well, the lads from the bench, there’s young guys in behind them who were probably unlucky to be on the Reeves Cup team as well.

"They were probably protected a little bit for that as well, that’s a great way to learn your trade as well. The guys are learning their trade day in, day out in the club, the coaching has been outstanding.”

Before their last county final wins in 2024 and 2025, Loughrea’s previous county titles came in 1941 and 2006, leaving Kelly well aware of how valuable another opportunity on county final day is.

“They’re great, they’re all special and they all take on a life of their own. We are looking forward to it alright, every one of them is so special. You just have to prepare right for the game and that’s it," concluded Kelly.