DEFENCE HAS HAD ITS DAY
Attack in vogue, says McKaigue
AFAIRYTALE – without the fairytale ending. There’s a tendency to paint the Slaughtneil success story in the terms of a fable, given how the tiny village in Derry produced a clean sweep of Ulster titles last year – in football, hurling and camogie. And victory over Cavan Gaels in Sunday’s football decider will see them retain that haul.
Except for dual star Chrissy McKaigue, it’s the pain of the St Patrick’s Day football final defeat by Dr Crokes that still hurts, his side beaten by a crushing point after losing midfielder Pádraig Cassidy in the first half.
He hasn’t watched it back and he hasn’t gotten over it either.
‘Look, there’s no point in sitting here and spoof and say “last year didn’t hurt”. It was crippling, absolutely crippling – the “ifs”, “would haves” and “could haves” and all the rest of it.
‘But the reality is, and it’s been well documented, Slaughtneil has a real spirit and a real unity and it takes every bit of that to get back to an Ulster final after getting beaten in an All-Ireland final in the fashion we did last year.
‘You can draw on that experience and draw on that strength. And I suppose in many ways a couple of those defeats we’ve had have ignited a greater hunger and a greater fire in our bellies. But you still want to achieve the pinnacle in your sport and as a club footballing team we haven’t done that yet.’
The quality of their Ulster semifinal versus Kilcar and the Connacht semi-final between Corofin and St Brigid’s the same weekend showed that attacking, end-to-end football is back in vogue and McKaigue claimed the All-Ireland final between Dublin and Mayo marked the end of an era in a way.
‘I think Dublin, the county team, have probably shown it, this ultradefensive football has gone with the Dodo bird, I think. It allows you to be competitive for a certain amount of time but it’s very difficult to actually win anything with it. You need a balance.
‘I think the attacking side of the game has become more prevalent. If you look at the All-Ireland final this year, Mayo played a very open game of football.
‘I think that club football does get a fair bit of publicity and attention, in many ways, it’s been the saving grace of Gaelic football over the last couple of years because people have been pretty slow on the inter-county game because it maybe has been pretty negative.’
Does that mean the Ulster Championship will witness a change in style next summer, will the likes of Tyrone, Donegal or Monaghan set up differently?
‘Well, I’m not too sure. I think it’s proven that if you want to win big honours in Gaelic football, club or county, you’re not going to do that if you’re ultra-defensive. It’s just not going to happen. There has to be a balance of play.
‘I think there’s more emphasis now on the skills of the game whereas for a couple of years there I did feel it went a bit OTT and was all about GPS stats and who could wear the tightest shirts, all them different things. I think we’re starting to appreciate now the beauty of Gaelic football again.
‘I don’t want it to go back to this traditional catch and kick either, you have to play the game smartly. Balance is the key word. At the minute Dublin and Mayo are the two best teams in the country and their balance is fantastic. They’re physically very competent but they’re definitely technically very competent. You have to try to model on the best, on what they’re doing, and they’re two pretty good models.’
As for the fairytale ending of an All-Ireland, he’s not about to lose the run of himself. ‘For us to come out of Derry four years in a row – we’re only the second team in Derry ever to do that. The other team was the great Bellaghy team in the ’60s.
‘We have to be extremely aware that up until 2004 we had never won a county championship.
‘Sometimes perspective is the best thing to keep. Yes we want to achieve the pinnacle but so does a lot of other top clubs. There is no way I’m getting too far ahead of myself. If we could get over Cavan Gaels that would be an absolute dream come true.’