AIB Ulster Club Hurling Championship semi-final preview – Slaughtneil v Dunloy
By Brendan McTaggart
Slaughtneil manager Mickey McShane
Ballycastle native Mickey McShane is now in his third year of his tenure at the helm of Slaughtneil and he’s taken the Emmet Park side to new heights. Last year they handed out a first Ulster defeat to Loughgiel in the provincial decider while this year they have achieved a fifth Derry crown in succession, the first time since Dungiven achieved the same fete in the 1970’s.
A fourth county title for Slaughtneil’s footballers has brought the club to new levels while the camogs have also made it another treble of titles within the Oakleaf county. Incredible in any era, county or province. A schedule that is as demanding as any in professional sports and coincidentally it’s taken it’s toll on the grounds at Emmet Park. The Robbies were training at O’Cahan Park, Portglenone during the week when we got a chance to have a chat with the Slaughtneil manager.
They had just finished an in-house game when McShane gave us an insight into how things had been in the run up Sunday’s semi-final: “Everything’s been going really well. Obviously, everyone knows the hectic schedule that Slaughtneil players have but we’ve came through the last cluster of matches in good health and training over the last week has been really good and positive.”
Slaughtneil won the Derry crown with little or no alarm. Despite the nature of their success in previous years, McShane told us that they have been looking no further than the game in front of them and that has been the case from the first match of the season: “Our aim is and always has been, to win the next game and that’s the God’s honest truth. We don’t look any further than our next match. When the draw was made we drew Ballinascreen in the first round, we won that thankfully so it was Banagher next. Yes, we retained our county title and it’s always nice to do that. It’s a great feeling to be county champions but we move onto the next level and the challenge that Dunloy will bring. If we win that, we’ll have earned the right to play in the final and that will be that.”
Slaughtneil have evolved into an excellent hurling team in recent years. Their matches against Cushendall in previous years and last year against Loughgiel have helped them improve tactically and McShane said that every day is a school day for him and his team: “It doesn’t matter what age you are. Unfortunately, I’m a good bit older than a lot of these boys out here tonight and I’m still learning the game. Every day you go out you have to learn something whether you win, lose or draw.
“I think that every year we’ve got a wee bit smarter and a bit more cute about the thing. These guys are very intelligent. They’ve learned from their mistakes in the past and they’ve learned from their past defeats but they’ve also learned from their wins as well. I like to think that we’re getting better every year. Year on year over the last four or five, these boys have gotten better and that’s an upward curve we hope will continue.”
McShane told us that they are looking to their previous experiences in Ulster as they prepare for Sunday’s showdown with the Cuchullains: “Any game in the Ulster championship is going to be a physical battle. You’re playing county champions when you step up to this level and you just have to look at our match against Middletown last year. It was a very physical game and the Loughgiel match was the same. The year before against Cushendall was something similar and to be honest we’re not expecting anything less from Dunloy. We’re expecting exactly that same type of game. They’ll come fast at us and they’ll be looking to hit us hard early on. We’ll try to be prepared for that as best we can and we’ll see where it takes us.”
Slaughtneil were the first team from Derry to compete in the hurling club All-Ireland series and while their defeat to Cuala in the semi-final hasn’t really effected them in 2017, McShane told us that the defeat is still a huge disappointment: “We’re not really losing the hurt but we learned from that game. We came away disappointed in ourselves and how we performed. We felt that we didn’t play as well as we probably could have but we came away and licked our wounds.
“It’s behind us now, it’s old hat just like the way the Ulster final is old hat as well. We’re looking forward now and looking forward to the next game.”
As it stands the match is still in Owenbeg although the Dungiven venue will undergo a pitch inspection on Friday afternoon. McShane told us that the venue or pitch won’t be the deciding factor on Sunday: “I don’t understand why it’s not in Armagh. Armagh has hosted the last two games between the Derry and Ulster champions and everyone seemed happy enough with it. It was a toss and we’ve won it, the match is in Owenbeg and it’s a venue we know very well but it’s a pitch and that’s that. It won’t win us the game and it won’t lose the game for them either.”
