By Brendan McTaggart
Ruairi Og captain, Neil McManus has had a championship season troubled by injury but you won’t hear him complain. He’s exactly where he wants to be. Now part of Davy Fitzgerald’s Antrim backroom team, McManus has an agreement of sorts with the Saffrons manager that allows him to put all his energies into the Ruairi’s defence of the Volunteer Cup.
Would you really expect anything different from him, though? McManus epitomises Cushendall and the spirit within the club and town. He lives for hurling and thrives for the big occasion.
After a brief joke about looking some secrets of the Ruairi’s game plan and maybe even their starting 15, we spoke about that epic semi final against St John’s: “It was one of those game” started McManus: “brilliant to be involved in and exactly the type of game we needed at that stage of the championship.
“I actually said to a work colleague in the days running up to the game, don’t be surprised if it goes beyond 60 minutes. I don’t know what it is about our games with St John’s, it seems to be the way more often than not when we play them.
“I think it was a game 10 years ago when we were seven or eight points down going down the stretch but we got a couple of late goals and managed to get over the line. That’s championship hurling though.
“We knew there wasn’t going to be much between us with how Mickey Johnston had them going. The game itself maybe wasn’t the best in terms of quality but when it came to intensity and desire, it had them in spades.
“A great game for spectators but maybe not so much for the purists.
“We prepared for every eventuality and to get through days like that. It came down to small margins and thankfully we won enough of those big moments to get us over the line.”
The middle third in that opening half in Dunloy was so intense and played at such a high physicality, to come through that and gain experience for the younger members in the team was a huge bonus to Cushendall, said McManus: “You don’t get that type of game all the time. It’s very hard to replicate that in training but the experience of those days are invaluable.
“The more championship experience you get for the younger lads the better. You look at Dunloy who had the two McFerran’s starting in the semi final with (Paudie) Martin coming off the bench and Loughgiel with Ben (McGarry) in midfield). Playing alongside James McNaughton – an All Star nominee. St John’s brought on younger lads as well in the game against us.
“Those lads don’t realise it now but I remember when I played in my first championship match. Lining out along with men who would have been my heroes growing up. For those lads to get that in the championship, they might not think on it now but it’s special.”
Coming into this season as reigning champions and off the back of the disappointment in the All-Ireland semi final, McManus said that it was business as usual and there wasn’t any drastic changes made: “Nothing has really changed in comparison (to last year). We wouldn’t necessarily worry too much about the opposition, at the end of the day you can only control what you do in your preparations and how you train. You want to give yourself the best opportunity.”
Having already accounted for Dunloy in the group stages with a bit to spare, the Ruairi’s captain was key to point out that there is a marked difference between group games and knockout hurling: “Group games are funny and throw up strange results at times. You don’t need to look any further than our game against St John’s in Ballymena and fast forward a few weeks and they gave us a helluva fight in the semi.
“The group games mean nothing. It’s just about getting minutes into legs and trying out a few things, maybe giving different players a different opportunity. The Championship starts when knockout begins. You only learn about yourself in the knockout. It’s a different speed, intensity, even the crowd and the energy you get from them is different.”
