Ruairí Óg Cushendall players celebrate with the cup after the Antrim County Senior Club Hurling Championship final match between Ruairi Og Cushendall and Loughgiel Shamrocks at Corrigan Park in Belfast. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
By John Harrington
It’s going to feel like a shorter winter that some recent ones in Cushendall.
The after-glow of winning a first Antrim senior hurling championship in five years will warm hearts and houses in the north Antrim coastal village.
Watching their great rivals Dunloy win four in a row from 2919 to 2022 was hard to take, but now that they’re back on top team-manager Brian Delargy admits there’s a pep in their step as the look forward to Sunday’s Ulster Club SHC semi-final against Down champions Portaferry.
“Yeah, any time you win a county final it's just something nice for the whole village,” he told GAA.ie “Everybody is involved with it and there's been a nice, week lift about the town now that we have 'Big Ears' (the Antrim SHC Cup) back here.
“We had our juvenile presentation last weekend and it's always good when you have the Cup there for the young ones. There's been a nice wee glow about the place, probably for the village itself rather than the players because we have an Ulster championship to look forward to now.
“If you know what it's like up here at all or known anything about the Glens of Antrim everybody is just mad keen about their club and their culture up here.”
The joy of Cushendall’s victory does have a bitter-sweet note to it though because the club’s favourite son wasn’t around to witness it.
Legendary supporter, John McKillop, was known far and wide for his passion for Cushendall hurling, and sadly passed away last August at the age of 60.
Referee Diarmuid Kirwan with Cushendall captain Arron Graffin, Na Piarsaigh captain Cathal King and legendary Cushendall supporter, John McKillop before the 2016 AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Final.
He was the 16th hurler in the dressing-room for countless teams over the years and a good man for a pre-match parade or cup-lift.
If you’ve visited Cushendall you’ll have seen his mural on the side of the Lurig Bar owned by club legend Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, and the club gym is named ‘Wee John’s Strength and Conditioning Suite’.
He didn’t get to see his team deliver a championship that would have meant so much to him, but team manager Delargy doesn’t mind admitting the players sourced a lot of motivation from wanting to win it in his memory.
“He was always there with us,” says Delargy. “We spoke about it at training just after his funeral. That John would want us competing every year we go out. While we didn't go back to it every match, in the back of our heads we knew how special it would be to win it for Wee John now that he's not there.
“It was a good pressure to have, to be honest, to have those thoughts of Wee John, and the way he lived his life. We felt our boys could take a lot from that.
“Wee John never missed a training session. He'd come out with his pen and paper and he wouldn't be long telling you what he thought in his own special way if he felt you weren't doing things as well as you could be.
“You’d always understand when Wee John wasn't happy. He knew how to cut through the seriousness at some training sessions too and send everyone home with laugh. He was just a first class man and he could probably read a room better than most people.”
Paddy Burke of Cushendall Ruairi Óg and team supporter John McKillop lift the Four Seasons cup following the 2018 AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Club Hurling Final match between Ballycran and Cushendall Ruairi Óg at Athletic Grounds in Armagh. Photo by Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile
The last time Cushendall won an Ulster Club Championship the Cup was lifted by McKillop along with team captain Paddy Burke.
And having watched Dunloy get their hands on that piece of silverware and make it all the way to the All-Ireland Final last season, you can be sure Cushendall will feel there’s no reason why they shouldn’t entertain similar ambitions themselves.
Delargy is wary of the challenge posed by a Portaferry team that has won back to back Down titles, but his satisfied his own players are in a good place mentally and physically coming into Sunday’s game.
“Ulster campaigns are a joy to be involved in,” he says. “And if you're not involved in them you're looking over the wire wishing that you were.
“We got the boys back training on the Thursday after the county final and you're sort of thinking they might want to take it easy after a few days celebrating, but they came back with a super attitude and we ended up doing a heavy enough session with them.
“We had a week to find out who we'd be playing and once we knew it was Portaferry we really focused in on that. The boys have been great, training has gone up a level since we've come back after the county final and we're really looking forward to this match now on Sunday.
“We know Portaferry from playing them in the Antrim Leagues over the years. We haven't played them in Ulster in a while and we know they'll be taking it up a level. I was a the Down final and they showed their class to win it.
“We're not going to focus too much on the opposition though, you can't afford to take your eye off the ball with your own team.
“Our boys have trained hard, injuries have healed up, so we're in a good place that way. It's about bringing a performance on Sunday on the pitch.”