IN the couple of years since, Slaughtneil’s 2020 All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Ballyhale has assumed an almost mythical quality. For those who were there, it will never be forgotten.
Pairc Esler was shaken to its foundations as a breathless encounter that warmed the hands and hearts of all inside the Newry ground, any lingering January blues banished in spectacular fashion.
Ballyhale, then under Kilkenny legend Henry Shefflin, would go on to lift the Tommy Moore Cup for a second year in succession. They are back for more this time around too, shorts odds favourites to complete the hat-trick.
But it was a turning point in the Slaughtneil story too. Disappointed, frustrated, exhausted – it was all there as they trudged from the changing rooms and into the evening air.
Yet so too was a new-found belief; a belief borne of lived experience and no longer just their own drive and ambition.
In the cold light of day, two years down the tracks, they still lost out by five – though Colin Fennelly’s added time goal perhaps flattered the Shamrocks.
But after ultimately one-sided defeats to Cuala and Na Piarsaigh in earlier semi-final showings, this time the Emmet’s knew they were headed in the right direction.
“That was our third venture into the All-Ireland series and the first two, we were well and truly beaten,” says Slaughtneil captain Cormac O’Doherty, whose free-taking shoot-out with Ballyhale star TJ Reid provided one of many sub-plots in Newry.
“Although we were in a good position against Na Piarsaigh, we were never really in a position to be competitive for the full game.
“In the Ballyhale game we were competitive but at the same time we were always chasing the game. Against a team at that level, the level we’re at now, when you’re chasing a game for 60 minutes it’s very tough to get a result.
“But definitely we learned a lot about ourselves that day, and it gave us an insight into what was needed to compete at this level – at the end of the day that’s all we did. We didn’t win, all we did was compete, but it gave us an insight into what it took.
“That’s something hopefully we’ve used the last two years to learn from.”
They will find out at Parnell Park on Sunday when Michael McShane’s men take on serial Waterford winners and reigning Munster kingpins Ballygunner.
The extent of the challenge facing Ulster’s finest was laid out in stark fashion 11 days ago when Kilmallock were blasted from the field. The experience of Pauric Mahony shone like a beacon but it is the pace and persistence of Dessie Hutchinson which perhaps poses the greatest threat to Slaughtneil’s lofty ambitions.
“If you’ve watched any of the Ballygunner games, he’s their focal point in attack,” said O’Doherty.
“If he’s not scoring, he’s creating. He’s done it for a number of years now, we know how good he is - I think everybody in Ireland knows how good he is.
“A player of that calibre, it’s trying to limit rather than cancel out. Whoever is marking him has a massive job on their hands, but it’s going to be up to everybody to help each other out and try and limit him as a group, rather than just depending on one player.”
The wide open spaces of Pairc Ui Chaoimh suited Ballygunner’s game but Slaughtneil need only look back a couple of years for inspiration. Then, on a tighter, heavier Páirc Uí Rinn pitch, Tipperary’s Borris-Ileigh managed to suck the life out of their challenge.
Parnell Park might offer a similar opportunity for an Emmet’s side whose pressure game has proved too much for many an opponent – though O’Doherty believes it works both ways.
“I suppose there's two ways of looking at it,” he said.
“The likes of Brendan Rodgers would love the open spaces of Croke Park as well but the big benefit for me would be that we've played there before [against Na Piarsaigh in the 2018 All-Ireland semi-final].
“It's not so much small pitch or big pitch, we've been there before, we know surroundings. From a defensive side, yes it would be good to have less space for them to operate in but it works the same for our forwards.
“We like to create space for the likes of Brendan and Se McGuigan, Parnell Park probably won't allow that to happen so it's about who can make the best of both.”
