PERHAPS it's fitting that the Creggan hurling captain is called Sam Maguire. The club from near Randalstown is better known for football, but they have mostly dual players and are writing their names in the history books of the small ball code.
Two years after winning the Ulster Junior title (and going on to win the All-Ireland) the Kickham's men collected the Intermediate crown last October, defeating Tyrone champions Eire Og, Carrickmore in the decider.
Manager Tommy McCann knows they'll be up against it when taking on Connacht champions Abbeyknockmoy of Galway in this weekend's All-Ireland semi-final in Navan.
However, whatever the outcome this Sunday, he's determined to keep developing hurling, inspired by clubs within Antrim and elsewhere in Ulster:
"When you see what the likes of Slaughtneil and St Gall's can do there's no reason why you can't use your players properly…
"All our seniors, bar maybe five players, are dual players. That's about 28 players on the senior panel, there are only four or five who play hurling alone. We are a dual club…
"With us being predominantly a football club it is a balancing act, but managers just have to talk to each other about players."
Slaughtneil, Ulster Club senior football champions in 2014, also reached the provincial senior hurling finals of 2013 and last year, while St Gall's got to the All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Final of 2010.
O'Donovan Rossa went one better last year and became the first Ulster club to win the All-Ireland SHC, but the Belfast men are usually a senior side.
Intermediate is a step up for Creggan, though, the result of years of hard work, as McCann explains:
"It's a long-term plan involving getting the right structures for underage coaches and underage children coming up through, building on coaching system within the club. We're trying to improve the players from the roots up, from under-fours right up to senior."
McCann had particular words of praise for Seamus Elliott, who worked for years as Antrim's hurling coaching officer, commenting: "Seamus Elliott did an awful lot of good work in the south-west – he did as much work in the south-west as he did in north Antrim, in the schools and the clubs. He gave us a lot of very good advice on how to help our coaching systems."
The manager himself has contributed to the team in terms of personnel as well as coaching, with his sons Conor and Thomas important players in attack and defence respectively.
Two other McCanns, Ruairi and Oran also played in key positions, midfield and centre half-forward, in the Ulster Final, with the boss quipping: "They're cousins - some of them are further out than others. We're all sorta half related – you hit one of us, you hit us all, yo know that way." His daughter, Colleen Kelly, is team physio, McCann adding: "It's a family-run concern."
Success should make the case for hurling within a dual club, but McCann doesn't see it that way, saying: "The boys enjoy it – it's not just about winning.
"The fact that cubs enjoy it is the biggest thing, more than anything else. There are a lot of dual clubs who don't win, so winning is not everything. Winning is only cream on the cake."
Achieving victory against Abbeyknockmoy will be tricky, he knows, not least because they knocked out London outfit Robert Emmet's in the All-Ireland quarter-final; sides based in the English capital have reached two of the last three Intermediate Finals.
"Any side that comes out of Galway is always going to be a good team," comments McCann. "We got one of the fellas over in England to watch their game against the English champions and we know it's going to be a struggle on Sunday.
"It's an awful big step up from Junior to Intermediate but we'll be Senior next year, so we have to go up a level".
