Ruairí Ó Mianáin of Derry during the Allianz Hurling League Division 2B final match between Derry and Tyrone at the Derry GAA Centre of Excellence in Owenbeg, Derry. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
By John Harrington
Derry hurler Ruairí Ó Mianáin has all the hallmarks of a young man keen to get places as quickly as he possibly can.
Last year he was the star of the Derry U20 hurling team that beat Roscommon in the All-Ireland ‘B’ Final when he scored 1-5 from play.
This year he has graduated onto the Derry senior team and has quickly established himself as a real go-to player in their attack, hitting 18 points from play in five matches during the Oak Leaf County’s victorious Allianz Hurling League Division 3B campaign.
The Slaughneil clubman is also a very talented footballer – he played on the Derry U20 team that reached last year’s Ulster Final – but hurling is his first love.
His father also hurled for Derry and his mother played camogie for Donegal so he didn’t exactly lick it off a stone.
He’s burst onto the scene at a time when Derry hurling is on a steadily upward curve, and he’s keen for that trajectory to continue.
“It feels like we're in a good place,” says Ó Mianáin. “I suppose you kind of have to accept that hurling is going to play second fiddle in Derry the same way hurling would play second fiddle in Kerry or other counties, so instead of arguing and going against that you have to work with what you have.
“I think recently we've been doing that. The team that I've been a part of at U20 was probably the first time in a long time in Derry that the best hurlers in that year are hurlers. They're not footballers who play hurling.
“At the minute we're going well, we're happy, but we're probably not still at the level where we want to be. If you look back at my Da's era in the 90s/early 2000s, Derry was winning Ulster senior titles and competing in Croke Park with Offaly, Galway and teams like that.
“It's a long shot to try to say that you'd want to be playing at that level because it is a very high level and it would take a lot of work, but if we can slowly progress like we have been doing this past four or five years then you never know what could happen.”
The Derry captain Jack Cassidy, 10, and team mate Ruarí Ó Mianáin celebrate after the 2023 GAA Hurling All-Ireland U20 B Championship Final match between Derry and Roscommon at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Ó Mianáin’s timing is good, and not just in the sense that he’s a sweet striker of a sliotar.
He’s joined a Derry senior hurling panel in rude health under manager Johnny McGarvey who has brought some much-needed stability after a period when the county consistently struggled to get its best players on the pitch.
“Yeah, more than any other year from what I hear and from talking to the older players like Cormac (O’Doherty) or Mark Craig,” says Ó Mianáin.
“They say it's the first time in a long time where there's a level of professionalism coming into Derry hurling. There's a management team in place, there's a S&C coach, there's proper training sessions, boys are committing to it properly. There's no half-heartedness which can happen sometimes in lower levels of hurling.
“From what I hear it's the first time in a long time that Derry has had those structures in place. As a young lad coming in it's very, very enjoyable. Hopefully in the next 10 or 15 years we can push on and take another step.”
Derry hurling manager Johnny McGarvey.
Ó Mianáin’s ascension to the Derry senior team adds another string to an already deadly attacking bow.
They averaged 29 points per match in last year’s Christy Ring Cup campaign and play an eye-pleasing brand of hurling.
“Yeah, we put up big scores," says Ó Mianáin. "Oisin (Quinn) our coach is a very good coach. We work a lot on it in training and do a lot of shooting. If you want to play at that level you have to be taking your chances and so far the chances we've created we've been taking them.
“But, as I said, there's a lot of improving still to do from where we are to where we want to get to. We're promoted to Division 2A but the goal isn't just to go up and play against better teams. You want to go up and compete with and beat better teams.
“We'll see whenever the level rises and coming into championship hurling whether we can maintain the scoring we've been doing in the league.”
Beaten by just two points in last year’s Christy Ring Cup Final by Meath, the next step that this Derry team wants to take is an obvious one.
Ó Mianáin hopes Sunday’s first-round tie against Wicklow can be the start of a silverware winning campaign, and lay the foundation for further progress to come.
“We want to win the Christy Ring Cup,” he says. “That's not being cocky or arrogant, it's just what our long-term goal is.
“We think we're good enough to get to a Christy Ring Cup Final and we think we're good enough to win it, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. We know that because we haven’t been able to get out of it for a long time.
“In terms of where you'd want Derry to go in general in hurling, it's probably to be competing against the likes of Carlow and Laois and those counties. That would be massive for us. At the minute we're sort of a level below where they are.
“But you saw how Carlow managed to develop and become a county that now has a very, very good hurling team that plays against the best. You look at Westmeath playing against Galway and Kilkenny, those teams.
“So, I suppose the ambition is competing at as high a level as you possibly can rather than saying we're not one of the best teams in Ireland so what's the point.
“If that was the common attitude then what would the GAA be? If teams in the lower leagues didn't try to compete as best they can then what would the be apart from the four of five best teams.
“So for us it's about competing at as high a level as you possibly can and fulfilling your potential.”