Slaughtneil look set for a sixth hurling title against St. John’s

Ulster Senior Hurling Club Championship Final

Slaughtneil v St. John’s (Antrim) at Athletic Grounds Armagh, 6pm Saturday

SLAUGHTNEIL will contest their tenth Ulster senior hurling final since they made the breakthrough in 2013.
They have won the Four Seasons Cup five times to date and are favourites for another one.
For years Antrim cubs dominated this championship with Down teams occasionally dipping in.
Only Loughgiel (twice) have gone on to win the All Ireland title.
Slaughtneil have won the last 13 Derry titles in a row and there is nothing coming over the horizon to stop their dominance.
Saturday will see them facing a team they have never played before, the reason being that the Belfast based St. John’s had not won the Antrim title from 1973 until this year.
They had lost in six county finals between 1972 and 1994. In all, they have claimed the Volunteer Cup eight times the last success being in 1973.
With teams like Dunloy, Loughgiel and Cushendall the fancied runners the city team shocked the ‘big boys’ by battling through to claim the title and give Belfast the hurling boost that was so badly needed.
Slaughtneil reached their first Ulster final in 2013 but despite losing to Loughgiel by 3-14 to 1-15 they did enough to warn the clubs from the Glens that a new challenger was in town.
Two years later they lost a titanic extra-time battle with Cushendall by 1-14 (27) to 3-17 (26).
The first success came in 2016 with a 2-14 to 1-13 victory over Loughgiel.
They retained the title with an easy 2-21 to 1-12 win over Down champions Ballygalget but were shocked by Ballycran in 2018.
In 2019 they got the better of Dunloy by a comfortable seven points.
Covid ruled out the 2020 championship but when it resumed the Derry champions had a comfortable win over Ballycran by 1-14 to 0-10 in Belfast.
The years 2022 and 2023 saw narrow defeats in the final by Dunloy and Cushendall.
It was back to business last year when they beat Cushendall after extra time in the semi final and Portaferry 2-19 to 1-19 in the final.
An unlucky semi final loss to Sarsfields of Cork and Munster denied them a first All Ireland final appearance.
St. John’s, captained by Ciaran Johnston and managed by Gerard Cunningham, were held to a draw in their first group game by St. Enda’s.
They then beat Ballycastle 2-24 to 2-18 but in a score fest they lost to Dunloy by 5-23 to 3-19.
However, their three points were enough to get them a semi final spot. There they had a fortunate 2-15 to 0-20 victory over city rivals Rossa to reach the final where they were virtually written off against Cushendall but they saved their best for last with a 2-16 to 1-18 victory.
The goals came from Oisin McManus and Donal Carson with Shea Shannon and Conor Johnston sharing nine points.
Ciaran Johnston captains the team from full back while in the midfield area Sean Wilson and Aaron Bradley are fast and skilful. They have a decent enough attack with Oisin McManus and Conor Johnston the key men, Shea Shannon at full forward is an accomplished free taker.
Slaughtneil have a lot in their favour with the main ingredient their experience at this level as they head into their sixth successive final.
They have seriously talented hurlers in Ruairi O’Mianain who is a consistent scorer from his wing half back position.
Cormac O’Doherty is listed at full forward but roams around the pitch setting up and taking scores.
Shea Cassidy has taken over Cormac’s free taking role. In the semi-final against Portaferry he hit 11 points with just one coming from open play.
The multi talented Chrissy McKaigue took a break last year but is now back better than ever as he has moved from defence to attack.
They will again be missing injured centre half back Conor Coyle but they have adequate resources on the bench.
Brendan Rogers is the key an in attack and he is a hurler that could walk on to any team in the game.
For some of the players it is a 12th successive Ulster campaign while for the ‘Johnnies’ it is a first.
This year the Ulster winners play the Galway champions Loughrea in the All Ireland semi final so the Ulster champions will be in with a good chance of reaching the All Ireland final.
When winning their previous five titles Slaughneil had the misfortune to be up against either the Munster or Leinster club champions.
Manager Paul McCormick will have his players well warned not to take St. John’s for granted but in reality the Emmett’s look to have more than an even chance of winning their sixth Ulster title.