‘It’s probably a bit more difficult to find that motivation’: Eoghan Campbell on finding the fire again ahead of county final clash

IT is only now that the juices really start to flow for Eoghan Campbell.

After a certain element of shadow boxing through a group stage that was always likely to see his Cushendall side and Dunloy progress, the knockout stuff is – and always has been – what gets him going.

Campbell played 40 minutes as a second half surge saw the Ruairi Og overcome Ballycastle in the preliminary quarter-final, with the former Antrim captain getting into the flow of things as Loughgiel were edged out in the last four.

With only Dunloy standing between Cushendall and a third county crown in four years, Campbell is looking forward to crossing the line on Sunday.

This year, though, has been tougher than most others.

Niggling injuries have been at him in recent years, forcing the 32-year-old to step away from county commitments as Antrim endured a tough campaign under Davy Fitzgerald.

And getting back to full fitness, and full focus, has been a greater challenge than Campbell could have anticipated.

“It’s probably a bit tougher.

“My personality is, I don’t go too high with the highs, I don’t go too low with the lows... I sort of take it as it comes. It’s probably a bit more difficult to find that motivation at the minute.

“Obviously, I stepped away from the county last year, I’d been there for 13 years, and it’s your life for 13 years. I stepped away with a bit of a niggling injury, tried to rehab over the winter, didn’t work out, had to get surgery in March.

“I thought that would be fine, I’ll have plenty of time, and then I wasn’t back on the pitch until the end of June, so it caught up with me a lot quicker. When we were playing championship last year, I wasn’t training between matches; I just wasn’t fit to do it, because of the injury.

“So I was nearly eight or nine months with no running, and that just doesn’t suit my body, and my type of personality, so it’s been a lot tougher this year.

“Getting to the business end of the championship has helped. Just that competitive knockout, it does something to you. It’s a bit more of a slog earlier.

“You’re going out playing games knowing you’re probably going to get there [into the knockout stages], and the last couple of weeks, there’s been a bit of a change. When you’re playing the likes of Loughgiel then Dunloy in the final, it definitely helps the motivation.”

And, while there was a huge frustration at being stuck on the sidelines after semi-final defeat to St John’s, it did afford Campbell the opportunity to live a life he hasn’t been used to after so many years on the club and county treadmill.

“It was a bit different, actually, because I had the injury and it was still lingering about, hadn’t properly cleared up, but it was the first time in 13 years where I had Christmas off completely.

“Any time I’ve been asked to do anything over Christmas, the last 13 years, I’ve had to say no. I’ve had to pick and choose my nights out, if I’m able to go away for a weekend with my girlfriend, stuff like that.

“Last year I was able to do all of that, I was able to go out any night I wanted, I had that freedom, so that period actually wasn’t too bad for me - it was quite nice.

“It was probably more when I got to the stage around February/March, and I realised I’m going to have to go for the surgery, I knew it was going to be a bit more of a slog.

“In my younger years, I wouldn’t have been the best at looking after myself… I was always the man to come into pre-season maybe a bit overweight, and having to lose the weight through pre-season.

“That doesn’t really work nowadays, you have to come in ready for pre-season, so from February on was a bit more of a struggle, then doing the rehab, trying to get myself right.”

There was little room for dwelling on how last year finished but, having had so many battles with the Johnnies through the years – always coming out the right side – defeat to the west Belfast men stung for a little longer than most.

“It probably did a bit… we had a slow start that day.

“We did get into it, took the lead, Neil [McManus] getting sent off and then at the end, I’m not going to say we threw it away, but we sort of played ourselves out of it.

“We sort of died then in extra-time and St John’s took over. It probably did hurt a bit more, just because of the battles that we had, we always had that one up on them, so for them to get that one win and go on and win it probably did make it a bit worse.

“But it gives you a bit more motivation at the start of the year, a renewed enthusiasm going into it. There’s young boys coming into the panel, so you try and use it.

“You don’t dwell on it too much, it’s a new year, but you just build throughout the year, through the league, through the championship, and we get to here.”

Campbell has soldiered alongside McManus throughout his entire club and county career and, on Sunday, the Cushendall veteran will be involved in his 17th county final across 22 years of senior hurling.

The 38-year-old still has plenty to offer on the field too, as demonstrated against Loughgiel, but Campbell also sees the impact McManus has on the emerging crop coming through.

“We obviously have a couple of young lads coming up, even through the backs, and he’s still able to mentor them. You see him definitely trying to give his knowledge.

“When he stepped away the county, the plan was to give a couple of years to the club, and you can see him trying to give that knowledge to Joseph [McLaughlin], Finn [Fiontan Bradley], and a few of the other younger lads.

“Neil’s probably trying to get a bit ahead of the curve with that, and that can only be beneficial to them.”