SLAUGHTNEIL hurling manager Michael McShane and captain Chrissy McKaigue have hit out at the scheduling which sees their footballers in action this Saturday night.
The Emmet's retained their Ulster hurling crown on Sunday and must now continue their efforts to hold on to the football title when they face Tyrone champs Omagh at Celtic Park.
That repeat of the 2014 provincial final, won by Slaughtneil, would be testing enough given that 13 of their hurlers' starting side are on the football panel, with at least eight of them expected to line out against Omagh.
However, the fact that the match is set for Saturday evening has been labelled "madness" by McShane, who added: "Sometimes it feels as if Slaughtneil are being punished for being successful."
McKaigue said that the run of matches for their dual players has been "fairly gruelling."
Slaughtneil were good rather than great in beating Down's Ballygalget by 12 points at the weekend but McShane put that display into context:
"We have to keep in mind when we talk about the performance that a lot of these lads have played now their third big, big championship game in 14 days – and that's tough going. And they have to go out now in another six days and play another one.
"We're keeping asking for their standards to be very high and it's probably unfair on them – but we're still winning, and that's the main thing."
McShane admitted he was puzzled why the south Derry club had not been allowed a day's leeway given their plethora of dual players:
"I just don't understand it. Slaughtneil are well chronicled now with their success and the fact that they're double Ulster champions.
"Everybody knows that they're going to be going into these games. So why not leave it that they're going to be playing on the Sunday? Or why not give it two weeks and give the guys a chance?
"But certainly, to turn around and say 'Right, lads, you're playing on the Saturday night rather than the Sunday', which is 24 hours less, I think it's madness.
"I think the powers-that-be should have a wee look at that. Play it on Sunday and another game on Saturday.
"Sometimes it feels as if Slaughtneil are being punished for being successful."
An Ulster Council official has already indicated that the quarter-final programme will not be changed, which did not surprise McKaigue:
"In 2013, Loughgiel beat us in an Ulster [Hurling] final at Celtic Park and I spoke to a reporter afterwards at length about how… I was a wee bit annoyed because I had played the International Rules the night before and there were different opinions attached to it.
"But my thing was, 'Why did Ulster hurling need to be played off so early?' Because it does really squash things up.
"I should be talking to the wall. I got absolutely no response or whatever else. At this stage, there is no point in talking any more about it.
"It is what it is, over the last number of years we have come to accept it. It is very difficult, but that's the way it is."
McKaigue detailed the demands on his club's many dual players: "I think the first senior Derry football game was maybe the second weekend in August, and since then we have had one weekend off. It's been a fairly gruelling schedule…
"Six days isn't an awful lot in my opinion, but we will just go and follow the same template as we always. We are fortunate enough to have that experience…
"Omagh will bring a lot of energy and a lot of football to the table. They are quality, Tyrone champions always are, irrespective of what people say about their record in Ulster. They are always very hard to beat."
Slaughtneil will monitor full-back Brendan Rogers and back-up goalkeeper Sean O Casaide, both of whom took heavy hits late in the hurling final, and also hope that forward Paul Bradley can recover from the back injury that ruled him out of the Ulster Club SFC preliminary round win over Kilcoo.
