Ulster Senior Club Hurling Championship final: St Joseph’s, Ballycran v Ruairi Óg, Cushendall (tomorrow, 3pm, Athletic Grounds)
OVER the past four years, Antrim club hurling has been stripped bare of its sense of invincibility. There has never been a greater air of uncertainty, even vulnerability, about their champions in Ulster.
In the first four years of this decade, the average winning margin in provincial finals was 16 points, all in favour of a dominant Loughgiel side that would win club hurling’s greatest prize in the middle of it.
The four years since have seen tectonic plates shift. Having dethroned the Shamrocks, Cushendall rode their luck to even make the 2014 final after a replay with Slaughtneil, and they were caught out by a rampant Portaferry side winning their first Ulster title.
Then Slaughtneil took Cushendall to extra-time again the following year, and in the two years after the Emmet’s brought the Four Seasons Cup to the foot of Carntogher.
It’s brought Ulster hurling to life. The 6,142 people that spilled into Owenbeg, the big crowds in Armagh the few years before that, they’ve come because it’s no longer a foregone conclusion.
Does this one fit the same bill? It depends on how you dissect Ballycran’s destruction of the reigning champions in Corrigan Park.
You don’t beat Slaughtneil without playing well. You don’t beat them by ten points without hurling out of your skin.
Despite their brilliance, two asterisks are left behind. Just how much were the champions affected by their schedule? And can Ballycran find the same heights again?
There will be no definitive answer until tomorrow evening, but signs exist that they will at the very least mount a serious challenge.
They hounded Slaughtneil, tormented them, doing unto the Derry men as they had done unto both Cushendall and Loughgiel when they strived for their breakthrough.
When Ballycran won the battle, they had the skills to win the war.
They are not dissimilar to the Portaferry side that caught Cushendall off guard four years ago. Their lower centres of gravity and a pacy, through-the-lines style is exactly the kind that can cause the Antrim champions problems.
18-year-old midfielder Phelim Savage is an exceptional talent with a Chevrolet engine. He dominated his duel with Chrissy McKaigue the last day, and one of the big calls from a tactical point of view is what Cushendall do with him.
Eoghan Campbell has been operating very effectively as their sweeper, and the two are very similar hurlers. Their roles are likely to mirror each other. That may well play into Ballycran’s hands, giving one of their stars free reign.
Conor Woods is the stylish hub of it all and, having had a struggle to contain Loughgiel’s James McNaughton at centre-forward, Cushendall could well move their pieces around.
Scott Nicholson’s had a fine summer at midfield, and his consistency on the frees is something else that could weigh in Ballycran’s favour.
Cushendall have struggled in that regard this summer, with Neil McManus’ in-play displays not quite matched by his usual trustiness from the dead-ball.
Sean Ennis has been the go-to man-marker for the Ardsmen, keeping a tight handle on Brendan Rogers the last day, although the make-up of Cushendall’s attack will determine who he picks up.
Conor Carson would be a significant loss to Eamon Gillan if he is, as expected, unavailable, given that he carries a significant portion of their goal threat in his left paw.
Their return to a direct style under Gillan has been part of why they’re back on top of the tree, and his two goals against St John’s and assist for Paddy Burke – as well as a botched chance for Fergus McCambridge – were reminders of the danger that still exists under the high ball.
Sean McAfee is likely to come into the side, with the temptation to move Neil McManus inside expected to be rejected.
The Down champions will still have to wear the underdogs tag into Armagh, but they should wear it more lightly than their 4/1 odds.
There are viable question marks over the current quality of the Antrim championship. Cushendall and Loughgiel have been reinventing themselves bi-annually for almost a decade now, while youthful Dunloy haven’t yet done enough to escape their description as a fair-weather team.
Seven of Cushendall’s starting team go right back to their one-point Ulster final win over Ballygalget a decade ago.
From their 2014 loss to Portaferry, 12 will be in Eamon Gillan’s starting side tomorrow. The number rises to 13 from their All-Ireland final defeat by Na Piarsaigh two-and-a-half years ago.
Cushendall are not an old side, but they’re one that hasn’t been freshened by a youthful influx as often as they’d have liked.
Yet there was always a sense of the old dog for the hard road about them this summer. The softer the ground gets, the harder Cushendall become to beat.
Beneath the feet may not be particularly soft tomorrow, but Ballycran will be hoping that the sandiness has settled and there’s a bit more green showing on the Athletic Grounds surface than was last Saturday night.
Armagh is a venue that tends to suit the more physical team, and if the pitch hasn’t fully recovered, it could be a major advantage in Cushendall’s favour.
Defensively, aside from failing to deal with McNaughton and a bit of a struggle on Dan McCloskey, they were tight in the county final.
Eddie McCloskey didn’t score off Paddy Burke, who got a goal himself. Shay Casey didn’t score, Donal McKinley the same, and neither Liam Watson nor Maol Connolly made any dent coming off the bench.
Ryan McCambridge’s transformation from corner-back to ball-winning wing-forward adds another physical presence up front. McManus is still the go-to man for scores, but Donal McNaughton and Paddy McGill will be expected to chip in too.
Ballycran hit 4-15 against Slaughtneil and they’ll need a similarly effective attacking display tomorrow. James Coyle is the primary threat close to goal, while Collum McManus offers an unsung physical presence at full-forward. There are goals in them, as they’ve repeatedly shown.
The landscape of Ulster hurling has changed. The foreboding sense of a foregone conclusion no longer exists.
It’s a different sense, a different manner, but the feeling is that Cushendall will scrape their way through it.
