AIB Ulster Club Senior Hurling Final
St John’s vs Slaughtneil
Saturday 29 November
Throw in: 6pm
Venue: Box It Athletic Grounds, Armagh
Brendan McTaggart speaks with St John’s manager Gerard Cunningham as we look ahead to Saturday’s game with Slaughtneil with the Four Seasons Cup on the line.
It’s Saturday Night Lights for St John’s this weekend as they bid for their first senior hurling provincial crown since 1973. In a year where they’ve ended their county championship drought having memorably defeated Loughgiel, they now face the GAA Juggernaut that is Slaughtneil.
Having seen off the challenge of Donegal champions Setanta two weeks ago, the Johnnies roll on to the Box IT Athletic Grounds, Armagh – or BOIG as it’s been referred to recently.
That game against the men from Tir Chonaill was as physical a battle as you are likely to see anywhere in Ireland with Setanta coming with a clear and obvious game plan. You wouldn’t fault them for trying it, if anything you have to acknowledge and give credit to the application they showed for the full hour but when I spoke with St John’s manager Gerard Cunningham, it was exactly the match they anticipated in the build up: “They brought exactly what we expected. It was a tough, physical game and we did show signs of rustiness. The four week break was always going to be a factor but we just needed to trust in our hurling ability and we’d come through it in the end.
“It was a good, physical test and good preparation for what lays ahead with Slaughtneil. We started to play more like ourselves as the game went on and that was pleasing.”
With the weather being far from ideal when it comes to preparation and no floodlights for outdoor hurling at Corrigan Park, the Johnnies have been on the road. No road too long nor mountain too high when it comes to sourcing pitches as ‘Cut’ told us: “We’ve been begging off anyone who could accommodate us to be honest. We were only able to get use of Dunsilly for one night, the county must have some amount of squads or development squads out already but we’ve been to Leitrim, Cargin and Jordanstown a couple of times. It looked like we were heading to Kilcoo not so long ago but we managed to get Jordanstown again.”
In better news, the St John’s manager confirmed they go into Saturday’s final with a clean bill of health with Ciaran Johnston and Oisin Donnelly both recovering from knocks and taking part in full training over the last two weeks. “Ciaran and Oisin would have been available had we needed against Setanta but they just weren’t 100%. Now, they’re good to go.”
It means the Johnnies will be close to the starting 15 that lined out against Loughgiel in the county final. Cunningham did admit that while the team isn’t finalised, Slaughtneil have a couple of players who will need ‘minding’.
For Slaughneil, Saturday will be their 11th Ulster final and fifth in eight attempts since their first provincial win in 2016. Five wins in those previous 10 finals and a couple of back to back’s in there, the Derry champions have been the team to beat in Ulster for a long time now. Cunningham alluded to that fact when he added: “Slaughtneil have been the standard bearers for Ulster hurling for a long time now. They were only a puck of the ball away from making an All-Ireland final last year and it’ll be a great game but it’s a super time for this group of lads and a great test for me as well as these lads. They can’t wait to test themselves against Slaughtneil and see exactly where they’re at.”
The current Ulster champions had five points to spare over Portaferry two weeks ago in their semi final win. It took a late goal from substitute Gerald Bradley to put some daylight between them and the Down champions in what was a hard hitting encounter with neither side shy when it came to big tackles. “It was two very good hurling teams coming up against each other” said Cunningham, “I expected Slaughtneil to maybe pull away in the last 10 minutes or so but Portaferry had their chances.
“It was an edgy, nervy match for long periods. We’ve taken plenty from it and have been working on it.
“I was quite surprised that Chrissy McKaigue stayed in at 14 for the full game and Brendan Rogers playing out on the wing as well. We’ve discussed these things but our mindset hasn’t changed. It’s been the same all year. We will have a look at teams and see what we need to do but our main focus is on ourselves and making sure we’re 100% ready for the game ahead.”
The return of McKaigue has given Slaughtneil a huge lift this season. They went into that game with two personnel changes from their win against Cushendall 12 months ago, Conor Coyle faces a race against the clock to be fit while Jack Cassidy is trying his hand at American Football – a massive loss in the middle of the park for Paul McCormack’s men. With Shea Cassidy immaculate from placed ball and Cormac O’Doherty playing in a deeper role, they will look to Rogers and McKaigue with minor star Cathal Ó Mianáin also finding his legs at provincial level.
It will take another herculean effort from the Antrim champions on Saturday afternoon if they are to progress their playing season into December. The Athletic Grounds under the floodlights is a super place to play your hurling and they’ll need to be out of the blocks fast. Slaughtneil are a team who once they get on top, they will show no signs of letting up. Extremely difficult to keep quieten once they get their ‘gander’ up. A fast start will be imperative.
Match ups will be key. Tracking the likes of Rogers, Cormac O’Doherty, Shea and Eamon Cassidy will certainly be on the mind of the St John’s management team but they need to have their own house in order. Conor Johnston is having the season of his life in 2025 while Shea Shannon, Oisin MacManus and Donal Carson have all been pivotal. If they can reach the levels they have done thus far, St John’s will have every chance.
It’s 21 years since the Four Seasons Cup resided in Ireland’s second city. Back then it was the other one of the city’s ‘big two’ who grabbed the honours with Rossa defeating Ballygalget. The Johnnies will go into this one as underdogs but you get the feeling this particular group of men from the Whiterock are revelling in proving the doubters wrong.
They’ll have their chance again on Sunday.