At the heart of Athenry

Club Hurling Semi-final Athenry v Toomevara: In the light and shade of Eugene Cloonan's career, his club hurling with Athenry shines brightest. A phenomenal marksman at all levels of the game, his performances with Galway have never registered to the same effect as the county have notoriously under-achieved over the eight years of his senior hurling career.

But with Athenry it's been a different story, and the Galway club are now two matches away from joining Birr at the top of the club All-Ireland roll of honour with four titles. The big scores that have frequently been mere postscripts to another Galway defeat have at club level underpinned remarkable success.

Three of the team have won eight county medals and Cloonan is just behind with seven. His All-Ireland ratio is six to three, an exceptional strike rate, with this season's still to be decided.

Unlike this weekend's semi-final opponents, Toomevara, whose uninspiring conversion rate reads: nine county titles, no All-Irelands and just two Munsters, Athenry have the advantage of a provincial championship that's little more than a formality. But the county championship is a counter-balance.

"Getting out of Galway is the big thing," says Cloonan, who captains the club this season. "This year we were lucky to get through a tight county final."

For some observers the current team isn't as strong as those of the past, but it is driven by the attitude and commitment of those who have played through the past decade and a half and who know that this year probably represents a last crack at a record fourth All-Ireland.

"We've had great success in the last 10 years and it's down to the players and the people we have involved," according to Cloonan, "like Paul Hardiman, Joe Rabbitte and Brian Feeney. They're 34 or 35 now and they give us the appetite to go on."

Of the three mentioned, Rabbitte has been a particular influence on Cloonan, and in his victory speech after the county final win he singled out for mention the veteran forward, who took time out during the current campaign but whose ultimate intentions weren't in doubt.

"Joe took a few months off," says Cloonan, "but we always knew he'd come back."

Supplementing such experience, he believes, is the input of a newer generation.

"There's a good few players that weren't on those teams or were only fringe players, and they're as hungry as some of the older players were in '97. That freshens up things."

The passing of the generations hasn't qualified his own contribution. As a Leaving Certificate student, he was selected to play opposite Brian Lohan in the 1997 All-Ireland club final. Lohan, then in his pomp, was given a lively tussle by the youngster, even if accounts of Cloonan's success inevitably grew with the passage of time.

In a low-scoring final, however, he took two points from play off the great man and added seven more from dead-ball opportunities. A flavour of this chirpiness can be had from his post-match reaction.

Afterwards, an unfazed Cloonan said: "During the week people were talking about how I'd mark Brian Lohan. But he's a back and I'm a forward. I wasn't going out to mark him. He had to mark me."

Asked to name his most memorable All-Ireland success, he nominates the 2000 final.

"The one that sticks out is the second one, against Doora-Barefield who'd beaten us by a point the year before."

That point had been controversial given Athenry's grievance over a point that appeared to have been scored but which was signalled wide.

During the three All-Ireland victories of 1997, 2000 and '01, he has scored 1-29 (including 1-6 from play).

He denies that such consistent scoring feats place any pressure on him when going into big matches.

"Not really. In Athenry we've some great leaders, and like in any team that wants to do well there are players who'll share the responsibility."

He refuses to comment on reports of unrest in the Galway camp: "I'm not going to be speaking about that, we'll leave that."

But he is willing to share in the general bafflement at the county's inability to do better with the good supply of under-age players who emerge on a regular basis.

"It's hard to see what's the problem: Galway not doing well and Galway clubs winning All-Irelands. I think the new system will suit Galway, because for the past few years we've only been getting one shot at it, but this year we'll be guaranteed a few games."