Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MICKEY: JOB DUN
Boss delighted to see holders dismiss Antrim kings
SOMEHOW Slaughtneil keep coming up with the goods.
The reigning Ulster club hurling and football champions are back in another provincial hurling final, recovering from a sluggish start to swat Dunloy aside in front of a huge crowd at Owenbeg.
It backed up last year’s Ulster final win over Loughgiel and hurling boss Mickey Mcshane revealed they weren’t lacking motivation going into yesterday’s semi-final.
“We’re champions because we’re the best team but we felt last year we didn’t get the respect we deserved,” he insisted. “People said it was a lucky one but we beat the Antrim champions fair and square and now we’ve beaten the Antrim champions again.”
Cormac O’doherty top-scored with 0-11 in front of a crowd of 6,142, the biggest attendance at a hurling match in Ulster for an age as two club heavyweights clashed for the first time at this level.
Dunloy finished with 14 players after Conal Cunning received a straight red card right at the death for striking Chrissy Mckaigue – an incident which sparked an ugly brawl in the dying seconds.
It meant 11-time Ulster champions Dunloy were made to suffer their first ever defeat in the Ulster series.
Mcshane dismissed the fracas claiming: “It was just frustration on Dunloy’s part that they weren’t let to play, there was nothing in it”.
The demands on both hurling and football fronts definitely played a part in Slaughtneil’s poor start.
The dual players just weren’t up to the pitch of the game and Dunloy, back in the Ulster series for the first time in eight years, hit 1-4 without reply early on.
Nigel Elliott’s ninth minute goal, after a surging run, gave them a sixpoint lead after 13 minutes.
But once Slaughtneil settled they were clearly the better side and reeled off an incredible 1-8 in a row before half time.
O’doherty was on fire, shrugging off a dodgy opening with three missed frees to unleash some superb long-range points.
Gerald Bradley, Brendan Rodgers and Chrissy Mckaigue all scored before the latter duo combined for the killer goal.
Mckaigue’s high dropping ball was touched into the net by Rodgers to totally deflate Dunloy, who trailed 1-9 to 1-5 at the break.
The Derry champions swatted a promising Dunloy attack aside with ease in the second half.
Brendan Rodgers, Brian Cassidy and star man Doherty picked off superb scores and Dunloy looked a beaten side long before the end.
They did manage a consolation goal near the end from Paul Shiels, who drilled a 20 metre free past six men on the line.
Slaughtneil, back in action next week in an Ulster football clash against Down champions Kilcoo, also face Down opponents Ballygalget in the Ulster SHC final.