O’Neills Derry SFC semi-final: Glen 1-5 Slaughtneil 0-6
IN the biggest test of the last three years in Derry, Glen fended off the fierce resistance of their nearest and dearest from across the fields to set up a mouthwatering final with Magherafelt.
Coming into the game, people were questioning what Slaughtneil could do differently from the last two years, when they’d been well beaten in back-to-back county finals.
By half-time, it was fairly evident. Glen still led by 0-3 to 0-2 but they were glad of the break.
The noise was pouring down out of the stands, the game’s bloodlust invigorating a championship badly in need of it.
When Glen got in below to the sanctuary of 15 minutes alone, they sorted it out.
In the calmness of a Malachy O’Rourke changing room, they thought their way through.
In the ten minutes that followed, they scored 1-2. It took them from one up to six up.
Glen didn’t score again after their 41st minute major but they’d been out of the eye of the storm just long enough to get by.
“I didn’t think Slaughtneil had any more intensity than we had, but emotions were running a wee bit high,” said O’Rourke.
“The most important thing was getting fellas to cool down. If your mind’s not clear then you’re not gonna make too many good decisions.
“It was about improving the quality of our play and being aware we had to keep our discipline.
“We just used the ball more effectively at that stage. Cathal had the goal chance as well that would have made a big difference.”
They could have had a second goal in that spell but Cathal Mulholland, who was brilliant in those ten minutes, probably had too much time as he ran on to a ball in behind before dragging an unopposed shot wide.
The goal they did get had a huge stroke of luck about it. Danny Tallon’s hanging free seemed to be gathered and then spilled by goalkeeper Jack Cassidy, who was a surprise late replacement for the experienced Antoin McMullan.
That was a change designed to give Slaughtneil more of an attacking platform and longer restarts off the tee. In some regards it worked but his inexperience under the high ball was the one factor of note that Glen got their goal off and almost had another in the first half.
There was a real definition about the Emmet’s gameplan though.
Every kickout was long, 70 yards down the middle. Make it a war and see how they respond.
For a long time, Glen struggled to. They stood up to it alright but there was a sense that they hadn’t seen it coming.
Previous iterations of Slaughtneil had tried different plans but Glen had been able to find ways to play through them.
It wasn’t just a strong arm they brought. Theirs was a well-thought out performance.
Chrissy McKaigue mustn’t have been talking to Ethan Doherty since Derry’s All-Ireland semi-final loss to Kerry because he spent the whole night by his side, in his ear, on his toes.
When Doherty kicked the game’s first score, Glen had kept the ball for four solid minutes. McKaigue dived full-length but couldn’t prevent the shot.
Kickouts were only an excuse for a bit of hauling and wrestling.
As the half-time whistle went, Owenbeg’s atmosphere crackled in an unfamiliar way. There had been just five scores and yet absolutely nobody was complaining.
Quickly after the restart, brothers Cathal and Eunan Mulholland both set Conor Glass up for early scores as he found the pocket of space they’d been unable to get into in the first 30 minutes.
Then came the goal and it seemed like a Slaughtneil side that wanted to keep the game tight might fall away. They had very different ideas though.
Their six points all came from their big men, Shane McGuigan, Brendan Rogers, Chrissy McKaigue and Padraig Cassidy.
Rogers and Conor Glass cancelled each other out a bit, as did Cassidy and Emmett Bradley.
They’d argue McKaigue and McGuigan got the better of Ethan Doherty and Ciaran McFaul but if so, it was marginal.
It was on a big finish from Rogers that they clawed and scraped their way back into it.
McGuigan carries the burden of scoring responsibility which can be a cruel mistress. He’d look at a right-wing free that he sliced wide and a late 20-metre effort off his right boot with regret in a two-point defeat.
After two passive defeats, there was far greater honour in the way Slaughtneil went off on their shields here. But they’ve too many medals rolling around their drawers to be bothered about any kind of moral victory.
“We didn’t come here for moral victories. We came here expecting to win the game,” said Mark Doran.
“Before the game if somebody had said to me we’d keep Glen to 1-5, I’d have been pretty confident we’d have won the game.
“We left a lot of scores behind. The changing room there is devastated. The only thing I asked from the boys was that they battle and they did that. It’s serious disappointed because we did think we were gonna win the game.”
A battle it was. Having survived it, Glen will be all the better for it.
MATCH STATS
Glen: C Bradley; M Warnock, R Dougan, C Carville; D McDermott, C McFaul, C Mulholland; C Glass (0-2), E Bradley; E Doherty (0-1), J Doherty (0-1), C Convery; E Mulholland, D Tallon (1-1 frees), C McGuckian
Subs: T Flanagan for Convery (46)
Slaughtneil: J Cassidy; C McAllister, C McKaigue (0-1), K McKaigue; R Ó Mianain, P McNeill, K Feeney; B Rogers (0-1), P Cassidy (0-1); C Bradley, J McGuigan, P McCullagh; M McGrath, Shane McGuigan (0-3, 0-1 free), C O’Doherty
Subs: E Cassidy for McGrath (42), E Mulholland for C O’Doherty (48), Sé McGuigan for J McGuigan (52)
Referee: G Hegarty (Séan Dolan’s)