NOW FOR OUR NEXT TRICK...
All-conquering Slaughtneil looking to add to their impressive trophy haul
IN THE past few weeks, it had become clear that something would have to give. Slaughtneil had been too successful all season. With winter now drawing in and the Derry County Board rushing to conclude all competitions before the end of the year, the club simply had too many finals to contest.
So last week, 10 days out from the their first Ulster football final, Slaughtneil took the decision to forfeit their South Derry under-21 football championship final appearance. There was no way of fulfilling the fixture without risking injury ahead of today’s AIB Ulster Club SFC final showdown against Omagh St Enda’s.
For John Joe Kearney, club stalwart and Mickey Moran’s assistant manager, it was a particularly hard decision. The cup awarded to the south Derry under-21 champions is named after his uncle, Jack Cassidy.
‘But that’s the price of success,’ sighs Kearney. And it will soon be forgotten if the small club in the foothills of the Sperrin Mountains become kings of Ulster in the Armagh Athletic Grounds this afternoon.
Even if they fall just short against Omagh, Kearney says there may never be another year like this in the club’s history. He has been associated with Slaughtneil since the early 1960s, made his senior debut in 1965 (the same year he was part of the Derry minor side that brought a first All-Ireland title to the county) and he can’t recall a year like this one.
They did the double in Derry, winning the senior football and hurling titles. And won the reserve titles in both codes for good measure. It’s a diffucult one to verify but some members are of the opinion that no club has ever completed such a haul.
As already mentioned, the club’s under-21 footballers made it to the South Derry final before forfeiting for the greater good. The under-21 hurling side have also reached the South Derry final but their opponents, Lavey, have agreed to a postponement until after today’s Ulster final.
The club’s camogie team reached the Derry championship final, losing narrowly to Coleraine and there’s a plethora of under-age titles, too.
‘Good times for the club,’ Kearney says. ‘So we are just going to enjoy them while we have them because they mightn’t come around like this again.’
While Derry stars Chrissy McKaigue and Patsy Bradley have spearheaded the effort that has brought Slaughtneil to their first football final, Kearney is keen to focus on the collective. ‘The likes of Chrissy and Karl McKaigue and Patsy Bradley are very good footballers, but what others might lack, they make up for in workrate. This team work as hard as they can for each other.
‘But the fact that a lot of these players – like Chrissy, Gerald Bradley, Seán McGuigan – have been going on both fronts, just shows how dedicated they are. You just have to stand back and admire all they have achieved for the club.
DESPITE their battle on two fronts, (Slaughtneil hurlers eventually came unstuck in the Ulster SHC semi-final replay against Cushendall), the club has just suffered one injury – Brendan Rogers’ hamstring problem. ‘We have been very lucky in that regard,’ admits Kearney. ‘One injury despite all the games that the club have played but you need that bit of luck, too.’
A decade ago, when Slaughtneil won their maiden Derry SFC title, they ran head first into the Crossmaglen juggernaut and although they managed to take them to a replay, came out on the wrong side.
However, this year, with Moran (above) at the helm and the experienced Kearney in his backroom, Slaughtneil had been better-equipped for an assault on Ulster. ‘When Mickey came in, he had a three-year plan to win the county title with this club, he managed that in his first year, so everything else has been a bonus this year. In a way, the team have surpassed all expectations already this year.’
Derry’s is renowned for being one of the game’s most competitive football championships and Slaughtneil didn’t escape from the county without some controversy. Their late winning goal denied Ballinderry four successive county titles and a number of Ballinderry players and officials took umbrage to the decision to award of the decisive score.
The fall-out has seen hefty suspensions for a few Ballinderry players but Kearney said the whole incident meant it was important that Slaughtneil beat Cavan Gaels in their Ulster quarter-final.
‘If we had gone out in our first game in Ulster and Cavan Gaels had duffed us, then an awful lot of people would have been saying that we shouldn’t have been there in the first place. But we didn’t. We weathered a storm against Cavan Gaels and when they came back at us, we dug deep.
‘The controversy probably did affect the team. There are a lot of young players on our team and this was their first county title, and it was overshadowed by what happened at the end. But having beaten Cavan Gaels and Clontibert, we have shown that we deserve to be there.’
Kearney’s own playing days came to an end at the ripe old age of 46 in 1994, having finished up with Slaughtneil’s senior side seven years previously. By that point, he had already made his name as a coach, having managed Derry to the All-Ireland minor title in 1989 – a team backboned by Anthony Tohill, Gary Coleman and Damien Heaney, all of whom would play a significant part in Derry claiming their first Sam Maguire in 1993.
‘That was a great achievement, something special,’ Kearney recalls. ‘But if I help in some way to have my own club win the Ulster title, this will be even more special.’
Given everything else they have managed this year, nobody should back against them in the Athletic Grounds.