VICTORIOUS Portaferry captain Caolan Taggart expressed his disappointment that newly crowned Down champions won’t get the chance to aim for an Ulster title after Saturday’s epic replay win over county rivals Ballycran.
After six years, Portaferry finally got their hands on the Jeremiah McVeagh Cup again - making it 21 titles in all - by finally slaying the defending champions by two points in a fantastic final in Ballygalget.
Taggart, who played a starring role in Portaferry’s victory, believes the GAA could have made room to play the Ulster Club Championship.
Dunloy manager Gregory O’Kane and Slaughtneil boss Michael McShane have also lamented the decision to bring the curtain down on the club season after the county championships.
After Saturday's win, Portaferry’s joint manager Gary Smyth said: “I’d love a crack at Gregory O’Kane and Michael McShane.”
The last time the Ardsmen competed on the provincial stage in 2014 they shocked Cushendall in the decider and advanced to the All-Ireland series.
“If they’re going to play club what’s the difference in another three or four matches? I don’t really understand,” said Taggart. “We’ve been going flat out in the dark, in the rain… And to do all that work just to get out of your county, it gives you the drive to go and play Ulster, and for that not to happen is sad.
“We would love to have the opportunity of getting our hands on Ulster. We’ve been there before and we’re going to get back there again.”
Taggart banished the blues of the first encounter with Ballycran seven days earlier when he took responsibility for allowing Conor Woods’s last-gasp equaliser that forced a replay.
In the dying seconds, Woods’s hopeful free hit the Portaferry crossbar and came off the back of Taggart’s helmet and dropped into the net.
But Taggart managed to right the wrongs of that mistake in Saturday’s replay.
“That drove me on 100 per cent,” said the Down defender.
“I’m harder on myself than anyone. It was driving me insane all week. I was just waiting for another high ball to come in to deal with it again. We conceded no goals in the replay which was important.”
Ballycran, who still sit at the top of the roll of honour list with 26 county titles, were aiming for three-in-a-row but were outdone in the closing stages by late points from Eoghan and Daithi Sands.
“Every year you get hurt, you get up and you try again,” said Taggart, who is now the proud owner of four championship winner’s medals and an Ulster title.
“On the day, it’s never going to be more than a puck of a ball between any of the teams in Down. It’s the same with Ballycran and Ballygalget – we’ll cut lumps out of each other and we’ll probably see them down the street later on and be best mates.
“As soon as we leave the field, it’s over.
“It feels too long since we last won it, but now we’ve got our hands on it we’ll try to hold onto it for a bit longer.”
Taggart and the Portaferry contingent will return to the county set-up later this week as Ronan Sheehan’s men prepare for their Division 2B promotion play-off clash with Derry on October 18 (Athletic Grounds, 2pm) which was delayed back in March because of lockdown.
“I’ll be going back to Down, 100 per cent. They’ve started already so we’ll be back in and we’ll try and get promotion and then Christy Ring is the prime aim after that.”
