By Brendan McTaggart
It’s hard to put into words the 60 plus minutes of hurling from Eoghan Campbell on Sunday. For a man to play to the standard, ability, drive and show the amount of heart as he did during his sides championship final win against Loughgiel, all with a broken bone in his arm simply beggars belief.
The match wasn’t long over when we spoke with Campbell on the Páirc MacUílín surface. The Cushendall man told us they were prepared to do whatever it took to get over the line after successive final defeats: “We were very disappointed last year. We went in at half time and felt everything was going to plan. We felt we were doing the right things but it got away from us. You have to take that, Dunloy deserved it but you saw this year. We knew Loughgiel would beat Dunloy. They would be determined and they were unbelievable that day.
“We knew what today was going to be like. You knew what it was going to be like with the articles you wrote. It was hard hitting and there was nothing in it. We just got the right scores at the right time and delighted to get the win after missing out for the last two years.”
Campbell’s inclusion in the starting 15 took many by surprise. We found out later the Cushendall management team had a custom made support for his wrist mechanised and delivered from Pakistan. Despite his super-human performance, Campbell was eager to highlight the importance of his team and their efforts: “It was hit and miss all week. It wasn’t until Thursday night that I found out I was going to be able to play. The boys have trained away for the last two weeks.
“We got out of jail against St Johns the first day. They deserved to win it and we nicked it from them. The second day we got over the line but it was good to get the win today. It was a team performance. Look at Natty. Natty in the first half was unbelievable and he threw everything he had in the second half.
“But it’s a team game and we’re just happy to be in another Ulster Final.”
Paddy Burke and Conor Carson’s goals proved to be the decisive scores in the final and Campbell agreed the majors came at the perfect time for his side before laughing about his captain being the unlikely hero with the first goal: “We wanted to get goals and we thought if we ran at them we would create the chances and work the space. Pad (Paddy Burke) ran the length of the field to get on the end of that chance.
“I don’t know how he ended up there, I know I wouldn’t rather have had him in that position and we’ll not hear the end of it for the rest of our life now.”
With Ballycran’s surprise win over Slaughtneil in the Ulster championship semi-final on Sunday, the Ruairi’s have a date with the Down champions a week on Sunday. Campbell’s focus wasn’t long in turning to the Ulster decider: “We’ll enjoy it tonight and maybe tomorrow but it will be hard work, you know. There is never an easy game against Ballycran and we have to put in some serious hard work for the next two weeks.
“We won’t be content just to have won Antrim again. Three years ago we were in an All-Ireland final and that’s our bench mark. We want to get back there but this is where we’ve been aiming, we’ve been aiming for an Ulster title and that’s what we want.
“We just have to go and do a job.”