Ulster champions Slaughtneil take on Loughrea in the All Ireland semis

All Ireland Senior Club Hurling Semi Final

Slaughtneil v Loughrea (Galway) at Parnell Park, Dublin, 1-30pm Sunday

SLAUGHTNEIL were hoping to have this game in Croke Park but nearby Parnell Park is the venue.
You can actually see Parnell Park from the third tier in Croke Park. Once the sliotar is thrown in the venue will be put in the back burner.
In their five previous semi-finals Slaughtneil found themselves facing powerful teams from Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny and Limerick.
This is the first time that they have faced Connacht opposition where only the Galway champions qualify for the last four.
Slaughtneil have won six of the last eight Ulster titles. They have taken over from Antrim clubs who had dominated the province since this competition started 55 years ago.
They have virtually no opposition in Derry and judging by the ease in which they beat St. John’s in the Ulster final it does not bode well for other teams in the province.
Remarkably, this Slaughtneil team has three football All Stars in their ranks - Chrissy McKaigue who won his as a corner back and now he is in the midfield area, Brendan Rogers, a football midfield star now a corner forward hurler, and Shane McGuigan who won his football award at full forward and who is now a half back on the hurling team.
The Emmett’s have proved that it is possible to play both codes at a high level.
Loughrea, based in the scenic south west of Galway, have the full title of St. Brendan’s Hurling Club with no mention of football. They are some 170 miles away from the Slaughtneil rural stronghold.
In contrast to Slaughtneil, St. Brendan’s are based in a busy town, the home to over 6,000 souls. They have won four Galway titles which includes the last two. The previous two were won in 1941 and 2006.
They have lost in 10 county finals, the last being in 2022 at a stage when they were challenging the domination of St Thomas.’ The Saints had won eight titles between 2012 and 2023.
They have no notable county players in their ranks but they have a solid defence and a well balanced midfield and forward line.
They do not depend on any individual player to hit big scores; rather they look to men like Darren Shaughnessy, Anthony Burns, free taker Tiernan Killeen and Vince Morgan to chip in with decent contributions.
There are 16 good teams in the Galway championship and one of them beat Loughrea in the qualifier round of the championship. That team was Craughwell who won a high scoring game by 3-23 to 2-22.
Their six victories came against Killconieron by 1-19 to 0-18, Kilmordaly 4-25 to 3-8, Moycullen by 4-15 to 0-13, Clarinbridge in the quarter final by 1-18 to 2-14.
They had a comfortable semi final victory over Turloughmore by 1-17 to 0-15 and won the final against the favourites St Thomas’ by the minimum 1-15 to 1-14.
Those tough games give the Galway champions a distinct advantage. Slaughtneil breezed past all Derry opponents. There had been green shoots for Dungiven side Kevin Lynch’s coming into the final but Paul McCormick’s men had the game won at half time and the Emmett’s went on to make it thirteen Derry titles in a row
Sterling defender Sean Cassidy is still out due to injury but young centre half back Conor Coyle, who has missed most of the campaign so far, came on as a sub against St. John’s in the Ulster final.
While the Galway men are odds on favourites their manager Tommy Kelly will be well aware that Slaughtneil were just a puck of the ball away from the final last year.
On winning the Galway title he said: “When you start out hurling you dream of winning the county cup with your club and that is very special, they are so hard to win!”
The accurate free taking of Shea Cassdy and Cormac O’Doherty has been at the heart of Slaughtneil’s unbeaten run but they have not been scoring too many goals. That is an area where manager Paul McCormick will be looking to improve.
If they can get one or two past keeper Gearoid Loughnane they can be in the Croke Park decider in January 2026. Johnny Murphy from Limerick, one of the best referees in the country is in charge of the game.
It will be followed by the second semi final between the overall favourites Ballygunner of Waterford and St. Martin’s of Wexford who caused a major Leinster final shock by beating the mighty Ballyhale Shamrock’s from Kilkenny in the provincial final.
For the record the team line outs and scorers from the provincial finals were:

Slaughtneil: Oisin O’Doherty; Fionn McEldowney, Paul McNeil, Conor McAllister; Ruairí Ó Mianáin, Meehaul McGrath, Shane McGuigan; Cathal Ó Mianáin, Chrissy McKaigue (0-01); Mark McGuigan, Sé McGuigan (0-02), Eamon Cassidy (0-01); Brendan Rogers (0-02), Cormac O’Doherty (0-10, 8f) Shéa Cassidy (0-05, 2f).
Subs: Conor Coyle for Meehaul McGrath, Gerald Bradley for Sé McGuigan, Prionsas Burke (0-01) for Chrissy McKaigue, Peter McCullagh for Eamon Cassidy.

Loughrea: Gearoid Loughnane; Paul Hoban, Johnny Coen, Kieran Hanrahan; Brian Keary, Shane Morgan (0-02, 0-02fs), Joe Mooney; Ian Hanrahan (0-01), Cullen Killeen; Caimin Killeen, Tiernan Killeen (0-03, 0-02fs), Jamie Ryan; Anthony Burns (0-05), Darren Shaughnessy (1-02), Vince Morgan (0-02).
Subs: Martin McManus for Burns (18-20), McManus for Ryan (57), Sean Sweeney for I Hanrahan (62), Alan Kelly for Cullen Killeen (64), Neil Keary for Burns (65)