Hurling & Camogie

McKaigue and Rogers Rule Ireland out to focus on club

Slaughtneil's Brendan Rogers and Chrissy McKaigue have ruled themselves out of Joe Kernan's International Rules side due to their commitments with the Derry club  
Slaughtneil's Brendan Rogers and Chrissy McKaigue have ruled themselves out of Joe Kernan's International Rules side due to their commitments with the Derry club   Slaughtneil's Brendan Rogers and Chrissy McKaigue have ruled themselves out of Joe Kernan's International Rules side due to their commitments with the Derry club  

CHRISSY McKAIGUE and Brendan Rogers both turned down opportunities to join the Irish International Rules squad in order to concentrate on Slaughtneil’s quest for more success.

The Emmet’s defenders were invited to join up with the Ireland squad by manager Joe Kernan, but with a hectic club schedule that has seen them play 12 championship games in 10 weeks across the two codes, McKaigue revealed there simply wasn’t time. The former Sydney Swans player called on the GAA to look at the scheduling of the one-off Test, which will this year be held in Croke Park on Saturday, November 21.

“I’ve been with Joe for the Railway Cup the last two or three years and he’s been more than accommodating, but I literally just cannot get a free weekend, so I just had to put all my energy into this. That’s more than enough,” he said.

“Me and Brendan were asked down to it and we’re both in the same boat. There’s quite a few boys now involved in club competition, and they’re maybe going to have to look at scheduling it at a different time of year because, if you’re from a strong club, you can’t really get a right crack at it. The club’s full steam ahead for me and Brendan.”

The Emmet’s made a strong start to the defence of their Ulster football title last Sunday, steamrolling Fermanagh champions Derrygonnelly in the second-half to win by 18 points. Two goals from Christopher Bradley and one each from Cormac O’Doherty and Karl McKaigue helped the back-to-back Derry kings cruise into the quarter-finals.

It was another fine attacking display from Slaughtneil, coming on top of a similar performance against Bellaghy in a semi-final where the Wolfe Tone’s played a similarly open style of football against them. McKaigue believes the influence of manager Mickey Moran has made all the difference to their forward play over the last two years.

“You have Sé McGuigan and Cormac O’Doherty in there now, Sammy’s [Christopher Bradley] come of age, though he’s still relatively young,” he said.

“Maybe in the past, some of the criticism was warranted; maybe we weren’t scoring enough. What I always thought the last few years was that we created a lot. People always forgot that. We maybe just didn’t score enough. That was maybe down to confidence and composure. Mickey Moran’s brought that calmness to us now, and you can see that on the scoreboard. 

“When the shot’s on, it’s going over the bar with belief. Mickey Moran has a lot to do with that one.”

They will now meet a Scotstown side that regained the Monaghan title last Sunday having lost it to Clontibret last year. They almost denied Ballinderry during their run to the Ulster title in 2013 and will provide a stern test for Slaughtneil when they travel to Monaghan – most likely Clones – in 12 days’ time.

First up is an Ulster hurling final against Cushendall this Sunday: “I think next weekend’s hurling game will be our 13th championship game in 11 weeks, so there are more games than weeks. It’s been fairly hectic to say the least,” he said.

“There’s a lot on the line for this one [the hurling]. No Derry club has ever done it [won Ulster]. The last two years, we maybe thought to ourselves we were in bonus territory somewhat, but I think now there’s a belief that we can actually do it. 

“The team’s matured a wee bit. But it’s all about going out next week and it’ll take the game of our lives to win that one.”