St John’s and Slaughtneil, who meet in Sunday’s Ulster Senior Hurling Final at Armagh on Sunday have met in the finals of the Ulster Minor Hurling Club Championship in 2011 and 2012. The competition, which is hosted by Derry club Ballinascreen, has produced many great finals over the years, and these two were no exception, with St John’s winning tight games on both occasions.
To be honest I had forgotten who the Johnnies had played in the two finals they won until Michael McMullan of Gaelic Life pointed it out, so I went searching through the archives and found the pics from both games.
In the 2011 final the man of the match awards, which goes to a player on each team, were won by Brendan Rodgers for Slaughtneil, and Conor Johnston for St John’s, two men who went on to have great careers at senior level. In the 2012 final Conor again won the MOM award, but I don’t appear to have taken a photo of whoever won the Slaughtneil award.
According to Michael McMullan there are twelve of the Slaughtneil team still playing and seven for St John’s, which is an incredible statistic. The Derry champions have Brendan Rogers, Shane McGuigan, Gerald Bradley, Ruairi McCartney, Meehaul McGrath, Conor McAllister, Prionsias Burke, Paul Neill, Cormac O’Doherty, Mark McGuigan, Conan Hunter, Sean O’Doherty, and though I’m not 100% sure of the Johnnies but Im taking a guess at nine Conor Johnston, Ciaran Johnston, Domnhal Nugent, Simon Doherty, Michael Bradley, Ryan McNulty, Michial Dudley, Caoimhin Hanna and Donal Carson
TO SEE PICS FROM THE TWO FINALS IN 2011 AND 2012 CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW
2011 FINAL
https://myalbum.com/album/9Q7MZZy6owUgmi/?invite=338d415c-b91a-4e85-8860-29cbb6247ab5
2012 FINAL
https://myalbum.com/album/ZtPGXK2vJhDaMZ/?invite=486624bb-b136-40e0-9518-ae180512642d