Loughrea GAA Club were Galway Senior Hurling Championship the management including Pat O Conner and Mick Kelly and 2006 Connacht Hurling champions. They also reached the 2007 All-Ireland Club Hurling Championship final, losing out to Ballyhale Shamrocks. Loughrea has a rugby club, a soccer club, a Gaelic football club, a volleyball club, an 18-hole golf course, a cycling club and an athletic club. Loughrea cricket club is one of the leading clubs in Connacht. Actor Kiefer Sutherland has an affection for the town, twice visiting family as a young boy and is said to have been amazed at the skill of the players down at the handball alley.