Fogarty and Molloy cap stellar season with Kilkenny champions

When the dust settles on the O’Loughlin Gaels celebrations later in the week, many club members will wonder what made the difference in 2023 and two names will quickly appear on the horizon.

Both David Fogarty and Jordan Molloy have excelled in their roles as roving half backs alongside Paddy Deegan at centre-back.

This line had a massive influence on the St John’s Park outfit winning their fifth ever title at the weekend.

Fogarty got the levelling score before Paddy Deegan got the winner and he gave his immediate thoughts on the game.

“It was nip and tuck there for a lot of the game and we were ahead before they got back level at half-time,” he said. “It was the same in the second half and I hit the post with a chance late on before I eventually got the leveller. Fair play to Paddy Deegan, he showed the man he is when putting the ball over the bar under the new stand when it matters.

“We’ve been talking about not giving up until the final whistle blows as the Shamrocks have won games late on for years so we had to stay going till near the end and thankfully it was enough to get over the line in the end.”

Fogarty’s partner in crime Molloy has played an equally important role in the O’Loughlin’s rise to the top and he was delighted to make up for their final defeat in 2021 against the same opponents.

“I’m nearly lost for words but it’s something very special,” he said. “To beat Ballyhale is the pinnacle as they are the team everyone looks up to and fortunately today was our day.

“We were unlucky against them two years ago and they came out on top but thankfully we did enough to come out on top.”