A peek inside the dressing room of the Leinster intermediate football champions of 2014.
The footballers of Louth were famously (infamously is probably a better word) denied a Leinster title by Meath in 2010 in one of the most controversial endings to a GAA game in the modern era.
There was no denying Louth club Sean O’Mahony’s a similar accolade when they went up against Meath opposition in the form of Ballinlough in the Leinster intermediate final on the last day in November of last year.
In a brilliant gesture on the day, the entire squad paid a visit to hospital afterwards to check on their comrade, Louth senior star John O’Brien, who had been injured in the course of victory.
This weekend, Sean O’Mahony’s take on St Croans of Roscommon in the All-Ireland semi-final and before the big game, we caught up with Benny ‘One Trick’ Traynor to get the lowdown on life in the dressing room of the Louth and Leinster intermediate champions.
Spotlight on Sean O’Mahony’s
Club: Sean O’Mahonys
Club colours: Green and gold
Proudest moment in the club’s history? Winning the Leinster intermediate title in 2014. Hoping we can go one better in 2015!
Most loyal/fanatical supporter? James Clarke, a local publican whose business has been thriving because of our success. He’s known to stay till at least half-time in selected championship games.
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Best nickname: Due to his Westmeath heritage, silky skills and striking resemblance to a famous forward from the Lake County, the people’s champion and star corner forward, Stephen ‘Killer’ Kilcoyne has been affectionately christened ‘Dessie’.
Commenting on his award, Stephen had this to say: “Ahhhhh go way will ya!”
Most likely player to be found on Tinder? They say all good things come in twos, and deadly duo Keith ‘and 345 other friends like this photo’ McLaughlin and his bestest buddy, Kurt ‘haha stop, I was only talking to her’ Murphy make Maverick and Iceman look more like Bert and Ernie.
An urban legend suggests that, due to an unfortunate shopping trolley accident in his younger years, Keith has the inability to swipe left and can smell a rebound from as far as three parishes away.
Player still dressing themselves like it’s 1999? The Plumber Hanratty, take a bow once more, son. There have been some spicy ensembles paraded around the San Siro (our pitch), but never have we seen the likes of your second-hand/90s/loud/purple/triangular zip-up jacket that you so nonchalantly labelled as ‘Vintage’.
Eoin ‘The Plumber’ Hanratty
Now we’ve all had our hipster moments, but we tend to stay away from second-hand clothing. Very spicy clobber indeed.
Most likely player to break a beer ban? It’s a toss-up between Ronan ‘Roney Bear’ Byrne and Liam ‘I just can’t stop running’ Dullaghan.
Both these warriors have scores on Snapchat that dwarf the population of most of the world’s better-known countries. Most of snaps include the quotes “sneaky can” or “sure why not?”
Team-mate you wouldn’t like to meet down a dark alley? That would be our monstrous, 6ft 5in and full of muscle full-forward, Conor Crawley.
Biggest shaper on the pitch? We can’t make up our minds on this, so we’ve decided to give Plumber Hanratty a hat-trick.
Oldest player to ever have played for the club: Ah, David Dowling. Self-proclaimed as the greatest of all time.
We’re not entirely sure what age he is, but we think he’s the wrong side of 40. This man is incomparable. May you have many more years in the tank, Davey.
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