In conversation with... Mark Moloney

"Moloney inspires Celbridge to victory in last game of glittering career” screamed the headline over Stephen Leonard’s report in the Kildare Nationalist of 15 September on Mark Moloney’s performance for Celbridge in the UPMC Reserve A Hurling Championship Final. It was reported he had played his last game of hurling. The Celbridge player moved to Galway over the summer with his fiancé, Meghan, and young family to take up his role as Principal in Esker School near Athenry. Meghan began teaching in St Pats Primary School in Galway city. The Christy Ring Cup and League winner with Kildare and multi senior hurling county championship winner with Celbridge sat down with The Kildare Nationalist to reflect on that glittering career.

Pat Costello: It is reported, Mark, that you have played your last game of hurling. Is that just in Kildare or might we see you lining out in another county again?

Mark Moloney: I say it might just be Kildare, Pat and while I'm in my twilight years, as they say, I think it might be a good social outlet, a good way to meet people if I joined Salthill Knocknacarra next year. I might give a year or two with them if the body is up to it is and for the home situation, young kids and that. I'm hoping to maybe next year to play for a year or two.

PC: What was it like to play your final game in Kildare and to come away with a piece of silverware?

MM: It was a great way to finish off. That was the aim at the start of the year to hopefully win the championship with the second team. A few of us had dropped down and there were good young players there as well. We thought we might have a good team. The enjoyment of getting out, playing hurling again and consistently being able to play injury free and a little bit less pressure on the body. I still found it was quite a good level though because there were a lot of senior players playing at that level too. I really enjoyed the final and it was great to get the win. It was great for the young lads because they probably haven't won as much maybe as we would have liked over the years.

PC: Who might have been your influences as you were growing up and playing for Celbridge early on?

MM: My parents, Pat and Teresa, would be my first influences. They’re both from Clare and that would be our background. I would have gone to all the Clare matches in the ‘90’s. My father, particularly, would have managed our underage teams. I wouldn't look any further than my family. My older brother, was a couple of years ahead of me and winning a lot of things and you just wanted a piece of that as you were playing U12, U14, and that. My Dad was the manager of my teams and we got to an All-Ireland Feile Final, which we lost in 2000. We had a we did a big journey along the way of getting to finals and winning. We won a lot at underage but we had our share of defeats. I have a brother Paddy as well. Definitely going to Clare matches through the years gave me a grá for it that has never left me, thankfully.

PC: Celbridge were generally in senior county finals in your years, a decent team obviously at that time?

MM: We had brilliant years of success over the guts of 15/20, years. There was a huge amount of work put into underage teams when I was growing up. There was an influx of parents from hurling counties to Celbridge in the late 80’s/90’s. It was all our parents' generation who coached those teams and we had great success. Then we started coming onto the senior team. My first year was 2003 but there were a couple of lads ahead of me from around 2001/02. From that era on, we just seemed to have great success until our last county final in 2018. We had a period of about 15 years there, where we were the most successful team, the best team in the county, we felt. We lost a few finals but we won seven championships. We were always in the semi-final or final; always there or thereabouts. We had great times and great memories. It was just a really, really enjoyable time because we all grew up together, we all went to school together and we are still great friends now.

PC: When you won your last Final in 2018, did you think that was the end of it? Was the Naas juggernaut on the horizon at that stage?

MM: Well, we definitely didn’t think it was the end of it. It’s obviously a bit of a disappointment that we haven't won anything since then at that level. The Naas juggernaut had been coming for a few years before that. We met them in the final in 2016 but they were probably a younger team at that stage and we were a more experienced team. As the years went on, we probably realised that they're a coming force but you couldn't have predicted really the level of dominance they've had since. We had opportunities a couple of times in COVID years where we tripped up. Confey beat us in a semi-final one year. We were very close to beating Naas in 2021, so we were still there or thereabouts. We were probably a team on the decline from our peak years but I definitely feel we could have maybe snagged another one or two county titles. The new generation now, we'd love to see them stepping up and creating their own success.

PC: What was the highlight of your club career?

MM: 2005 was just was amazing. It was unbelievable. I know it was a bit of a cliché but every one of them was really special in their own way but definitely 2005 was brilliant. I was 19 and most of our team were under 22. We had a couple of older lads that had been around senior for a long time like Niall Lannigan, Noel McMahon. We played really well on the day against Choill Dubh. It was just a really memorable year. It just felt like that we had arrived. That’s the highlight, definitely.

PC: It wasn't easy winning county titles at that time?

MM: It was hugely competitive. We had Choill Dubh, Ardclough, Confey, all brilliant teams. Confey were similar to ourselves, similar age profile, similar story. We were huge rivals of theirs and vice versa. We were meeting in underage finals and they won a few senior championships themselves in that time. Ardclough, a massive hurling tradition and we had great battles with them. We would have known each other inside out, playing with them for the county and going to school etc. All the other teams were strong enough as well and you felt like every day you went out that you could get turned over. We had huge battles in finals with all those teams. Naas didn't really feature in those early years but look at them now. It's hard to believe that. It was a very competitive challenge and four or five teams could win it any year.

PC: Can you foresee that happening again where Naas won't be the dominant team and others will come on board? Is it a case of the others joining Naas rather than Naas coming back down to the pack?

MM: You’d like to think that other clubs can get up to that level and that's what will sustain Kildare hurling for future years. You don't want Naas dropping down the level so that other teams can meet them. They've set phenomenal standards over the last ten years or so. They've got everything going for them. They've gotten their act together for a long time now with underage. They've huge population. They've great hurling people there and they're very well run and very well organised. I’ve been saying it for a long-time other clubs have to step up to that mark and not just wait for Naas to come back down. Kildare hurling will only benefit if other clubs come to meet that level. You can see in Maynooth they’re making great strides in that regard.

We should have been making greater strides ourselves. The potential is within other clubs definitely to do it but I feel some teams tactically at senior level are maybe making it a bit easier for them than maybe we should. Maybe some of the tactics used against them aren't designed to keep us competitive. People are human and they drop the heads down if Naas get an early score or an early couple of goals.

They're brilliant team and a brilliant club but a bit of imagination and a bit of organisation goes a long way. I think any club with those ambitions can achieve that level as well. There's no doubt it's going to be hard and Naas are so good and dominant at the moment that it can be hard to see that but it would be great to see other clubs up to that level.

PC: When did you become involved then with Kildare at senior level?

MM: 2005 was my first year. I was just out of minor. Morgan Lalor rang me one night and he called me in and I was absolutely delighted. It was like a dream come true. I was absolutely buzzing. That was the start of my journey. I finished up in 2018.

PC: I've heard Kildare hurlers talk about that particular time or maybe a little bit earlier, that they were nearly afraid to say they were a Kildare hurler. Football was going very strong at the time. That's nearly turned around now?

MM: It's actually brilliant to see. You would get that kind of sneering from people you come in contact through different things like college or from different counties. There definitely was that around that time. I went to college in Maynooth and Maynooth is in Kildare and at training lads would be nearly questioning it. In different spheres of life where you come across people from other counties you would have that. I find that even down here in Galway now there's that bit of recognition of Kildare now. I'm meeting people and not one person has scoffed at the idea that I’m from Kildare and into hurling. I'm in a hurling area here just outside Athenry, in the middle of a few senior clubs and not one person I've met has been in any way condescending so far. You definitely feel that our reputation and the respect for Kildare has really increased since those days.

PC: A huge amount of credit goes to the players but credit also to manager like the late Willie Sutherland, Brian Maher, Joe Quaid, David Herity and Brian Dowling as well as Colm Nolan and John Burke and the Hurling Committees and all of those who were involved in underage level who have brought Kildare hurling to where it is today?

MM: The progress has been incremental but it’s been very sustained. My old teammates, John Doran and Paul Divilly, who are involved at county board level, putting in Hurling Action Plans and things like that is massive. Getting parity at county board level with how teams are treated and the resources put into underage teams, too. You’d compliment all the work that was done there because that wasn't always the case. When we were underage, we didn't get the same level of resources as the football teams. We're not looking for the exact same but you'd hope for a chance for success. We played under a lot of great managers, as you said there, the likes of David Herity and Brian Dowling, who I didn't play under, have brought it on again to another level. A lot of county board support and lot of people have put in huge amounts of work to get it to that level where it deserves that support too. I can only praise all those people that have been involved, especially probably over the last 10/15, years. It definitely felt like it's on a par with what the resources that are put into, say, football or that other counties get. Long may continue because the efforts that players put in, they deserve that to have any chance of success.

PC: You were involved with in the Christy Ring victories in 2014 and 2018 and a few League titles along the way as well. What did it mean to you and the lads to win that first Christy Ring in 2014?

MM: We lost the final in 2007 and we lost so many semi-finals in that time. Ironically, that year we had a very bad League in 2014. We knew we had a good team and a good panel but we were very slow to get going in the League. I think we got relegated actually. We lost very heavily to Kerry down there and I'll never forget that night coming home. I think Pa Curtin broke his jaw in that match. I didn't get in till after midnight. I remember sitting around with my parents at the table going, oh wow, why am I doing this; this is a disaster, soul destroying. Then a few months later we were after beating them in Croke Park. It was some turnaround. We got lads back from injury and as the year developed we just got our strongest team on the pitch and we had a very memorable campaign. It was brilliant and it was a brilliant Final as well, a great day weather wise, everything was perfect. It was a real highlight.

PC: And your club mate, Niall O Muineacháin as captain as well. Did that make it all the sweeter?

MM: Ah, yeah, Niall is one of my best friends. He was a great leader and a great teammate and friend. I had so many great teammates and friends that had fought for years trying to win it, like David Harney and Richie Hoban and Paudie Reidy, lads from all different clubs. We would have developed great friendships, a great cohort of probably about twelve lads who had been knocking on the door for a long time.

PC: You also made the Championship 15 Team of the Year which obviously was something special for you and the family and the club?

MM: I was playing in the forwards that year and really enjoying it. I just hit a run of form in the championship, one of those times where you're working hard and you're in the right place at the right time more often than not. It was amazing. My parents were there and my brothers on those All-Star Awards nights. It's a lovely thing to look back on and have on a personal level. It's something that people still mention to you. It's great that they brought in that kind of award scheme for those lower tiers as well. That's definitely a real tangible thing for people to have their efforts recognised.

PC: And you had a bit of Shinty as well at that time.

MM: Yeah, brilliant. It was great to pull on the Ireland jersey; I never thought I’d do that. We went to Scotland and unfortunately, we lost but it was great to meet players from other counties and mix with them. It was great to experience another game and a real honour representing Ireland. We mixed with lads from the stronger, traditional counties. Lee Chin was on it that year, John McGrath and a few lads like that and it was great to meet other lads from counties we had played against like Andy O'Brien from Wicklow. We roomed together and we were reminiscing on games we played against Wicklow. Paul Coady, James Doyle, Chris Nolan from Carlow, all those guys. It was good old craic, getting to know each other as well.

PC: What was it like stepping away in 2019?

MM: I had initially committed to play. David Herity had just come on board. I was 32 so I thought that I might have more year to give. I had a couple of injuries that weren't really settling and we were going into January at that stage. I just thought I'm not going to get the chance to get these injuries right and be right for the end. I met David and he couldn't have been more supportive; he understood everything. I thought was it time to maybe make a clean break and that's what I did. I probably regretted it once or twice over the next couple of years because they were doing well. I probably felt I could have still stayed on at that level but really, I suppose the real desire for committing had been gone after fourteen years doing it at that stage. We'd lost the play off to Antrim too and I really wanted to play in Leinster. I knew that we’d have another year in Christy Ring, have another year of Joe McDonogh so Leinster was still far away. I just knew that I would never get to play Leinster at that stage.

PC: You didn't give up the trips to Manguard Park, though, as you got involved with the underage setups in Kildare?

MM: I went in with the minors the following year. I was coaching them for a couple of years and then myself and Noel Ryan were joint managers after that. I really enjoyed that. I loved working with the players. Most of them are on the senior team now, there’s great talent there. It was great to work with players that have that ability and try and help shape their careers.

PC: Finally, then, Mark, what can we expect to see from Mark Maloney in the future, coaching, managing?

MM: Oh God, I don't know, Pat. I have a young family. We have just moved jobs and moved houses, moved everything. I’ll settle myself but I might end up playing a bit the next year or two. I might get involved with Salthill/Knocknacarra and see where that takes me. They're not much of a hurling stronghold; they’re more of a football club but they've a junior hurling team and junior isn't too bad in Galway. I did enjoy coaching but I did take a break for the last few years, concentrating on the other side of my life. It’s definitely something I'd like to get back into because I do feel that I enjoy it, and I feel that I can offer something, somewhere. Where that would be, I don't know. You'll have to just keep an eye out. You might find me in the papers doing something along the line, but no major plans. Definitely I would love to get back into a bit of coaching, yeah.