There is still 'huge hunger' in K-K camp - James Mahon

Like a lot of the Kilcormac-Killoughey crop of 2005, it’s easy to forget that for all the hurling that James Mahon and the rest of that vintage have done for club and county, he’s still only 21 years of age.

For most adults in the county, alongside the memories of Kilcormac-Killoughey winning exactly half of all county senior championships played since 2012, there are the memories of the club striving and failing to make that first breakthrough.

Mahon, on the other hand, came along when a new era was dawning. Today, he appreciates the chance to be able to play alongside so many of the players that were central to that glass ceiling getting shattered.

“We’ve been looking at these boys growing up, from the time we were eight or ten years of age, you know?” said the young defender.

“We were looking at the likes of Damo (Kilmartin), Cillian (Kiely), Jordan (Quinn), and all these older boys when we were growing up, thinking would we ever get the chance to play with these? Once we got the chance, it was about trying to take it. And thankfully, I think we have.”

That they certainly have. Since breaking into the Kilcormac-Killoughey senior team in 2024, Mahon has only known success on county-final Sunday.

“Each final, it’s different every year,” he says, though there is a fair amount of familiarity with Ballinamere too. The sides clashed in a very close final in 2024, a much more one-sided quarter-final in 2025, and the two clubs make up a huge proportion of the current Offaly senior panel into the bargain.

“We know them all, sure!” he replies. “So many of them in the county squad, we train with them six, seven months a year and you’d know some of them as very close friends.”

Mahon feels that the motivation for games like this comes from something other than just accumulating wins however, and that they tapped into that when coming through their enthralling semi-final against St Rynagh’s.

“We never went into that match thinking it was going to be any walk in the park, that Rynagh’s team, they’re not too long after doing three-in-a-row. They know how to get over the line, we’re just glad that we’re standing, looking into another final.

“That day, the full-time whistle went before extra time, we just said not to panic, we’re still as well off as Rynagh’s were at the time. It was about backing ourselves, knowing that we have the legs here, trust our fitness.

“We have a huge hunger, in that every day we want to go out and make the club proud, make your family proud. Not everything’s about winning either, you know? It’s just about doing the best you can for yourself and see how far that takes you, and if you win, it’s great.”

As the outside man, K-K manager Declan Laffan has a more practical view, focused on the nuts and bolts of trying to deliver on their undoubted quality. For him, the club’s growing roll of honour only makes it harder to keep finding ways to win.

“Every year it gets harder. Winning the first one can be hard, putting two is hard, the third one is harder and the fourth one is harder still because the target is just getting bigger and bigger on your back,” said the Tipp native.

“Credit to the players first and foremost because they have to keep coming to the table. I know obviously we started the championship quite poorly here the first evening, but sometimes you need a little poke to maybe wake you up and I think as the championship progressed we gradually got better.”

Even while they diced with death against Rynagh’s? “I thought our own ball-handling errors and poor decisions probably put us into a hole but when I watched it back, I have to give St Rynagh’s the utmost credit, they really put some huge pressure on us and caused a lot of that and maybe really put us in a hole.

“But then I thought we were excellent in extra time, our fitness shone through and 14 points in 22 minutes of hurling, it’s ridiculous but that’s what they’re capable of doing here when they turn it on.”

Despite operating without a couple of key individuals, the club’s incredible depth saw them through, and using that depth has always central to Laffan’s philosophy.

“I know trying to tell number 17 and 18 at times that they’re not starting can be quite difficult, but ultimately sometimes it’s the team that finishes can be more important than the one that starts.

“That’s just the way the modern game has gone but like you know it takes everyone and you need everyone buying in and if there’s somebody not helping out or not doing the right thing, it’s only going to drag you down so it’s hugely important that everybody’s rolling in one direction.”

Still, no amount of ‘next man up’ thinking can cover for when you can’t call on either your captain (Jordan Quinn) or the Offaly senior captain and club talisman (Charlie Mitchell) to pull on their boots and helmets.

“Charlie’s good, he’s around and he’s helping out any way he can. We all wish him the best and hopefully maybe he might get back sometime, but ultimately that will be down to himself and his family. Charlie’s a good lad and I’m sure he’ll be in the thick of it at the weekend.

But it’s not the same as having him on the pitch, of course,” Laffan said.

“We’re not going to have Charlie Mitchell or Jordan Quinn, they’re two exceptional talents and fortunately for them it’s not to be. We have lads to come in and fill the spaces, and we’re going to need 20 lads to hurl well on the day to get through this, and even if we get that, it’s a good Ballinamere team, so who knows?” he added.