All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship final: Ruairi Og, Cushendall (Antrim) v Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) (Thursday, Croke Park, 2pm)
AT SOME point after their historic All-Ireland semi-final win over Sarsfield's, the feel-good factor was starting to have a damaging effect on the Cushendall team.
Maybe it was the sea of flags in the town, the endless bunting and the thousand congratulatory slaps on the back the Ruairi Og players had received since hammering the Galway champions. Something wasn't right.
The intensity in training had dropped, even though there was no silverware on the bus that came back from Navan last month. Terence McNaughton, the team’s trainer, was niggled by the lack of edge in training. So he stopped one particular session and addressed the players.
One player subsequently revealed that McNaughton's speech was one of the most powerful they'd ever heard. Within minutes of the session resuming, fights broke out all over the field. The intensity was back. Minds were focused again.
The weeks leading up to St Patrick's Day were to be enjoyed by the club's supporters. Not by players: "Winning a semi-final just doesn't mean enough," said Shane McNaughton in a recent Irish News interview.
History will be made at Croke Park on Thursday afternoon as it’s the first time Cushendall and Na Piarsaigh will play in an All-Ireland final. Cushendall have lost eight All-Ireland semi-finals to Na Piarsiagh’s two. Before breaking their semi-final hoodoo last month, 2009 was the last time Cushendall reached the last four stage.
That day, they suffered a heartbreaking extra-time loss to De La Salle of Waterford. Conor Carson, Donal Naughton, Paddy McGill, Shane McNaughton, Arron Graffin, Neil McManus, Karl McKeegan, Sean Delargy and Martin Burke are the Ruairi Og survivors from that defeat.
Their experience will be crucial to Cushendall’s shot at All-Ireland final glory today, while the induction of Ryan McCambridge, Eoghan Campbell, Sean McAfee, Alec Delargy, Paddy Burke and Christy McNaughton - all inter-county standard hurlers - make up a hugely talented and slightly under-rated outfit.
It looks as though all of Cushendall is on its way to Croke Park:
Manager John ‘Smokey’ McKillop has a couple of selection issues ahead of Thursday’s showpiece. Midfielder Aidan McNaughton, who missed the 12-point win over Sarsfields with a hamstring injury, is fit again. But, in his absence, Alec Delargy had a brilliant game in Navan. It was the 20-year-old’s first competitive match in nine months after suffering a broken collarbone.
Centre half-back Paddy Burke is back in contention after suffering a broken metatarsal but it remains to be seen if ‘Smokey’ will tinker with a half-back line that performed heroically in the semi-final.
Still raging against the dying light, veteran hurler Karl McKeegan adds further depth to Cushendall’s options and he showed his worth in their epic Ulster final win over Slaughtneil, hitting two smashing points from play and winning a number of breaks.
Regardless of what starting XV ‘Smokey’ goes with, he will have good options in reserve. And he will have no concerns over the team’s resilience in pressure moments.
For the north Antrim men, it’s been the season of miraculous comebacks. Apart from their All-Ireland semi-final clash, Cushendall have been behind in all of their Championship games.
The St John’s and Ballycastle matches stand out. Five points down with four minutes to play against the Johnnies, Cushendall hit two late goals to win their Championship opener. Nine points down at half-time in the county final against Ballycastle, they hauled themselves level by the 48th minute and pushed for home with four points to spare.
Their nerve-shredding Ulster final win over Slaughtneil after extra-time was a contender for game of the year and given the Derrymen’s gargantuan efforts and skill levels they too could easily have done a number on Sarsfields in the All-Ireland semi-finals.
What ensured Cushendall making a mockery of the bookmakers odds in Navan last month was the team’s preparations, which were greatly aided by intense challenge games with Dublin, Cork and Wexford.
Sarsfields player/manager Cathal Murray noted afterwards: “You’d know they were training a lot over the winter because physically they had an edge over us.
"Cushendall defended well, got men back and put in a lot of tackles. We were blocked, we were hooked and we were harried. They just defended really well. They’re a quality team... We didn't turn up, or maybe we weren't allowed to."
The Irish News sports team give their verdict on Thursday's All-Ireland club hurling final:
The gradient gets markedly steeper for the Antrim and Ulster champions on Thursday. Munster kingpins Na Piarsaigh are better than Sarsfields in almost every department and are more familiar with the All-Ireland terrain than the Galway men.
There are nine survivors from the Na Piarsaigh side that lost to eventual All-Ireland champions Loughgiel Shamrocks in 2012. Sarsfield's had inter-county star Joe Cooney. Na Piarsaigh have much more than that. They have Kevin Downes, Shane Dowling, David Breen and free-scoring midfielder Alan Dempsey.
Although they’ve played 10 games to reach Croke Park, some of their individual scoring stats would make your eyes water. Downes has notched 6-18. Adrian Breen 6-17. Limerick U21 star Peter Casey 3-22. Full-forward David Dempsey 4-17.
Willie O’Donoghue is a towering midfield presence and Ronan Lynch, at number six, played the spare man role exceptionally well in their All-Ireland semi-final victory over Oulart-The-Ballagh.
Shane O’Neill’s men also like to make use of the short puck-out which had only varying degrees of success against Oulart. While this Cushendall team have been lauded for their comebacks, Na Piarsaigh have got themselves out of few tight spots too in reach today’s All-Ireland final.
They wiped out Adare’s nine-point lead in the space of 10 minutes in the early throes of the county championship, they overhauled Sixmilebridge’s 11-point advantage to win by two points. They also reeled in Thurles Sarsfield's and Oulart-The-Ballagh after they got out in front. Oulart, however, did expose some issues in the Na Piarsaigh full-back line.
The bookmakers see Na Piarsaigh as heavy favourites (1/3) to make history on Thursday. They also fancied Sarsfield's last month. Ulster hurling continues to fight the stereotypes: it was presumed a Galway team would always beat an Antrim team. Likewise, Limerick versus Antrim.
Sarsfield's turned out to be Cushendall’s easiest game of the season: “I just knew that our fitness would tell in the end,” said Karl McKeegan afterwards.
"We could have hurled on for another 20 minutes.”
Na Piarsaigh have a few Allstars in their ranks, but they’re not supermen. The Limerick men boast a powerful attacking unit that will take some containing. Equally, Cushendall are a well-oiled, incredibly fit hurling team, who will have taken great confidence from their defensive display in Navan five weeks ago.
In Arron Graffin, the north Antrim men have the best man-marker in Croke Park on Thursday. Not far behind him is Ryan McCambridge who is playing with the wondrous invincibility of youth.
They have one of the best game-managers in Shane McNaughton. Neil McManus will lead from the front. Donal ‘Natty’ McNaughton has been running on Duracell all year. Eoghan Campbell is the most nerveless distributor of the sliotar.
Sean McAfee’s pace can puncture any defence in the country. And if young Christy McNaughton gets good possession in the full-forward line great things usually happen for the Ruairi Ogs.
There is no such thing as a 1/3 shot in an All-Ireland Club final. So ignore the odds. If Cushendall can reproduce their semi-final performance and get their defensive match-ups right, there is nothing stopping them making history and becoming legends of the Glens.
