Leadon TimberFrame Derry SHC final
Slaughtneil 3-23 Kevin Lynch’s 1-9
IT would be naïve to think that Slaughtneil haven’t had Sunday 3 December marked in the Google calendar since the day and hour it was confirmed as the date for the Ulster hurling final.
Should it stay on that date and not find itself brought forward at some point, there will have been 77 days from this to that.
That in itself is a weird kind of testament to Slaughtneil, who have made the fixture makers themselves think differently about Ulster hurling.
Their dual successes when they were at the pinnacle of Derry football created headaches that Ulster Council have had to work into their planning, no longer able to guarantee that a club wouldn’t win both.
But no matter what way you slice it, 77 days is a long time.
Derry’s 11-in-a-row champions skip the provincial semi-final stage this year meaning it’s eleven weeks to the day until Slaughtneil’s next competitive match, the Ulster final itself.
“I think it’s scandalous, to be fair, but it is what it is. Those are the cards we’re dealt,” said their manager Michael McShane, who has been in charge for nine of those 11 titles.
He was by no means angry or animated about it, simply answering the question posed. But that didn’t make him any less forthright when he did speak.
“I think [there’s] a bit of blame on both sides. Derry, we played our last group game last weekend and this week we’re playing a final. I don’t think that’s fair.
“I also think the Ulster final should be coming this way because whoever wins it only has two weeks to prepare for an All-Ireland semi-final.
“Why not play it a couple of weeks earlier and whoever wins it will have more time to prepare for the All-Ireland semi-final? I think a bit of give and take on both sides will help.”
But as he dryly opined, “it’s great, middle of September and we’ve an Ulster final to look forward to in December.”
There’s been nothing in Derry to touch them for a few years.
Five of the starting six forwards from last year's final didn't start here. They began with just four of the starting team from their first final success in 2013.
Kevin Lynch’s have been in five straight finals against them but with each passing year, their belief sustains another blow, each becoming harder to recover from than the one before.
When winter set in after last year’s five-point loss, Niall and Pauric McNicholl, Odhran McKeever and Conor Kelly set off for Australia. Then they lost Niall Ferris to injury and manager Kevin Hinphey is braced to lose more in the coming months.
“I think there’s gonna be a few more boys leaving now after this season. Emigration’s a big problem in Dungiven at the minute from a sporting point of view.
“It’s just every young fella in Dungiven seems to be planning to go or is already in Australia.
“Generally anybody in that early 20s is making some sort of plans,” said Hinphey, whose brother Liam saved this from being even worse with a couple of fine second half saves.
There were 20 points between the sides in the end. There’s very little you can say about it. There was no lack of effort on the Lynches side, but the difference of speed and skill and physicality was enormous.
It took Slaughtneil the first quarter to properly find their stride but they still had ten unanswered points on the board before Corey O’Reilly got the Dungiven side’s first score with less than two minutes of the first half remaining.
The half ended 0-13 to 0-1, having opened out a bit once Brendan Rogers pushed into the full-forward line.
Their opponents had little option but to throw bodies forward but the space was only gift-wrapping for Rogers.
He scored the last two points of the first half, two goals in the first four minutes of the second and ended up with 3-2 to his name.
Ruairi Ó Mianain caught the eye too with a brilliant display from centre-back while Cormac O’Doherty made hurling look easy on a team that had Chrissy McKaigue on the bench and Shane McGuigan not involved.
Michael McShane dispelled rumours of a fallout with McGuigan and didn’t rule out the Derry footballer returning to hurling action before the Ulster final. In December.
“That remains to be seen. Despite the rumours, there’s been no fallout. Shane will have been in the stand shouting the boys on today.
“Shane’s playing football at the moment, he’s had a long hard year with a few niggles and we decided we’d try and win the Derry hurling championship without Shane – an agreement between Shane and I.
“We’ll see where we go over the next few weeks.”
A few weeks more than they’d prefer but they at least have the advantage of getting a good look at what comes out of Antrim and Down.
Eleven years in, it could be a while yet before anyone in Derry is ready to take the domestic crown off them.
Eleven weeks from now, they’ll be hell bent on taking the Ulster one back.
MATCH STATS
Slaughtneil: O O’Doherty; P McNeill, Sean Cassidy, J McCloskey; C McAllister, R Ó Mianain (0-3), M McGrath; B Rogers (3-2), G Bradley (0-2); J Cassidy (0-1), M McGuigan (0-2), E Cassidy (0-2); C O’Doherty (0-8, 0-6 frees, 0-1 65), P McCullagh (0-2), K McKaigue
Subs: M McEldowney for P McNeill (46), Shea Cassidy for McKaigue (48), S O’Doherty (0-1) for E Cassidy (58)
Kevin Lynch’s: L Hinphey; N McGonigle, P Kelly, E Cassidy; Richie Mullan (0-4, 0-2 frees, 0-1 65), M Craig, D McGilligan; J Mullan, S O’Neill; T Brady, C O’Reilly (0-4), S Kelly; Ronan Mullan (1-0), E McKeever, T McHugh
Subs: O McElhinney for S Kelly (33), S Higgins for E McKeever (45)
Blood sub: C McKelvey for O’Reilly (46-47)
Referee: E Hassan (Swatragh)
