Tipperary have the Two Johnnies and we all know the Two Ronnie’s, well ahead of Sunday’s senior hurling championship, we’ve spoken with The Two Shane’s.
We caught up with Shane McNaughton and Shane Elliott during the week and they gave us their opinions on Sunday’s match while reminiscing on their own playing careers.
Elliott: “it shows how much the Volunteer Cup means to Dunloy club and people”
By Brendan McTaggart
When it comes to Dunloy hurling, there are few men better placed to have their say than Shane Elliott. Six senior championship medals and part of the breakthrough team in 1990, the former ‘keeper and father of current shot stopper Ryan, was part of the management team when the Cuchullains won the Volunteer Cup two years ago.
We spoke with Shane and he ran the rule over this years semi-finals: “The one thing that stood out for me from the two semi-finals was the intensity and physicality shown by all four teams. The standard of actual hurling on show wouldn’t have blown you away but the way all the teams shut the space down and put their bodies on the line in tackles, it made it more difficult to hurl in.
“Both the semi-finals in Ballycastle were similar in that respect but there wasn’t much flow about the games either. They were very stop-start contests but that’s not the ref’s fault. Some of the way the players had been going down and throwing their helmet’s off was very hard to watch.”
The semi-final replay was devoid of flowing hurling, especially in the first half and while it essentially doesn’t matter at the final whistle, Elliott said for the neutral, it was a hard watch: “The first half between St Johns and Cushendall, I don’t think there was 10 minutes of hurling in it overall. Players were going down everywhere and I’m ok with play being stopped for head injuries but some players were going down, taking their helmets off if they had a hand injury. If the ref was to add on the additional time required it would’ve ran on for another 15 minutes but realistically he’s only ever going to play three or four.
“We might need tougher refs. Ref’s who can take control and take charge of these situations. Get tougher on players who are clearly slowing the game down. Hurling at it’s best is played at full flight and in full flow.”
The Cuchullains have shown different sides to their talents in this years championship, showing they can win ugly as well as play with devastating fluency, Elliott gave his analysis of the Cuchullains campaign so far: “Dunloy did what they had to do against Cushendall in the group, but again, it was definitely shadow boxing. It was close and went to the wire but they got over the line.
“I thought they were excellent against Rossa and that for me was their best performance of the championship. It was a match that worried me, travelling to Belfast against a more than decent side in Rossa, they didn’t let them build any momentum. If they got off to a good start they would have been hard to work with but in fairness to us, we came out and put in an excellent first half performance which was the winning of the game in the end.
“The Loughgiel match was very pleasing. The work rate was exceptional in the middle third. The hassling, blocking and tackling was as good as I’ve ever seen from a Dunloy team.”
The Cuchullains have caught the eye for the past two years with some breathtaking displays of pure attacking hurling. They have had to develop an effective ‘plan b’ and Elliott said it was a major step in the young sides development: “What people tend to forget though, there’s lads out there who are only 19 or 20 years of age and they’re expected to go into the trenches against men who are more able for it.
“We didn’t do it against Slaughtneil two years ago and against Loughgiel last year but they showed in the semi-final they were capable of it and that’s a testament to Gregory and Eoin McNicholl for the development strength and conditioning wise of these players.
“I firmly believe this group of players are better than they were last year and the year before that. People are expecting the free flowing game they are capable of from time to time, that doesn’t happen in the championship. Those people are in cloud cuckoo land. Sometimes it’s a 10 or 15 minute burst that gets you over the line but you have to earn the right to get those moments.
“Two years ago, against Cushendall in the final, people said we were poor in the first half. I didn’t agree, I thought we were excellent. We manned up against a strong Cushendall team in the first half and didn’t get the scores we deserved but it laid the foundation for what was to come in the second half.
“I would expect Sunday to be more of the same.”
The Ruairi’s record for the last 10 and more years has been nothing short of incredible. They have been the one constant throughout the 90’s, noughties and 2010’s. As reigning champions and a team who know their way around the pitch on finals day, Elliott said they are still the team to beat: “Cushendall maybe haven’t been getting the respect they deserve as county champions. I don’t think we see ourselves as favourites on Sunday and we have no reason to believe we are. The league’s over and as the saying goes, the leagues for playing and the championship’s for winning. Cushendall have proved that.
“It’s a 50 50 game in my mind. I’ve known Greg (O’Kane) a long time, played with him and worked along side him and I know they’ll have their feet firmly planted on the ground and won’t be getting carried away.”
Many have tipped this Dunloy team to dominate the Antrim hurling for the coming years. Elliott said that while they are a very good side, they aren’t the finished article yet and have yet to reach their potential: “This current group of players are a very, very good side but I still think they’re two, maybe three years away from being exceptional. They have the potential and the way they have been progressing, I’d say they’re on track. After that win two years ago people said we would dominate and win five or six in a row. That’s never going to happen. These lads are still realising their potential and developing. With that comes peaks and troughs. Last year was the trough but they look to have learned from that.”
Ryan Elliott’s performance in the semi-final was one of the reasons why the Cuchullains reached Sunday’s final. While he enjoys watching his son follow in his footsteps, Shane agreed the goal keeper position is becoming more important and maybe to the detriment of the game when he added: “I probably enjoy these matches a lot better than his mum, that’s for sure. Ryan takes these games in his stride though and won’t be getting too worked up about it.
“You can’t as a ‘keeper though. You’ll have nerves and butterflies but if you make a mistake and while I hope it doesn’t happen on Sunday, there’ll be mistakes in his career like there is with us all, it’s how you react to that. You have to forget about it very quickly as a ‘keeper.
“Poc outs are becoming increasingly important in the game and maybe overly so. We have a tendency to over complicate things when it doesn’t need to be but in a match where it will end up in the trenches, the delivery needs to be good, from poc outs and further out the field.”
With the Dunloy PRO team flooding Facebook and Twitter with those matches from Shane’s era, we asked Shane about those times. It led to him telling us exactly what the Volunteer Cup means to the people of Dunloy: “Those were the best times. The scenes from 1990 will never be surpassed. Even the All-Ireland semi-finals we won never came close to then. The sheer emotion looking back on it, you can’t help but be proud but it shows how much the Volunteer Cup means to Dunloy club and people.
“Those days set the tone for Dunloy hurling in every way you can imagine. I believe that everything the club does is geared towards the Volunteer Cup. All the underage success, even every ticket sold and function held is with one thing in mind, the Volunteer Cup.”
McNaughton: “It’s a very special thing to be a part of that you maybe take it for granted at the time”
By Brendan McTaggart
Making waves in Broadway and he wasn’t too shabby on a hurling field either. Cushendall’s Shane McNaughton was born to perform. A budding actor and currently part of the prestigious Stella Adler Studio in New York, McNaughton’s accomplishments on the stage are going some way to equalling what he achieved on the hurling field.
The last time ‘Sambo’s eldest’ donned the famous Ruairi Og shirt, was in Croke Park, St Patrick’s Day in 2016. A defeat in an All-Ireland Final but a silver lining was his superb performance. Five points from play in a performance where he showcased his undoubted talents and had the nations media in attendance purring.
A veteran of 9 finals in his 11 year senior hurling career, McNaughton reminisced of the final he was involved in against the Cuchullains: “I remember in the 2009 final against Dunloy in Casement, I was 22 and marking Micky McClements. He gave me a good roasting that day if I mind right and they went on to win.
“I always ended up marking Micky and if I marked him 10 times, I’d have been lucky to have got the better of him once maybe.”
Going back into his younger days, Shane spoke of his fondness of attending matches Antrim finals day in Casement Park: “The ‘99 final against Dunloy, I was a kid obviously and my father was playing. We came back and beat them in the last few minutes with Brian McNaughton and my Da scoring at the end.
“Those days traveling to Casement to play in the county final were some of the best days of my life. Coming home on the bus into the village after winning and seeing what it means to the people. It’s a very special thing to be a part of that you maybe take for granted at the time.”
The build up and preparation for every player is different. McNaughton was focussed on himself but having to keep a certain other member of the current Ruairi Og team ‘right’ for match day: “I was always giddy with excitement the morning of a final. My father would be up at the crack of dawn making breakfast and ACDC blasting throughout the house.
“The bag would be packed the night before, laces checked, boots cleaned for the first time that year, three pairs of socks (Just in case McManus forgot his again). The butterflies would slowly creep up on you.
“A few family members calling to the house for a cup of tea and to wish you well. A few looks throughout the morning from your father as if to say: “If you play well, you’ll eat well”.
With a legend like Sambo as your oul boy, it’s always going to be fun and games come match day. It’s fair to say Shane’s a chip off the old block as he continued with his normal match day routine: “The mother would just be hoping you stay safe and don’t get hurt. I’d walk over to the pitch and meet the lads all dressed the same way for the first time that year. Practice side lines (for the first time that year) with zero intention of ever taking one on the day.”
“Trying not to make eye contact with one of the lads who didn’t make the starting 15 because for the next few hours it was all about controlling the controllable. A selfish mindset and the hope that you have done enough the previous few months that when you walk on the pitch and shake your man’s hand, you are doing so knowing that you have done more than him and that is where you get your confidence from.”
Thoughts turned to Sunday and McNaughton gave his take and prediction for the final ahead: “If you look at the two teams on paper you would have to go for Dunloy. They have some of the most exciting forwards the county has seen in a long time.
“Dick has got them playing a really smart direct way of hurling. Cushendall hasn’t had a settled team and we have struggled to replace the players we lost the last number of years. There are four or five players that have come in but in reality, they are yet to cement their place on the team. We had to bring men out of retirement and they just walked back onto the team, if I was a young man on that team I’d be asking myself a few serious questions. You have to be selfish and ruthless at times.
“Nobody is judged by playing in the Feis. You are judged on days like Sunday. Big players for big days. It’s Dunloy’s to lose.”
