Ryan Elliott of Dunloy Cuchullains, Antrim, pictured ahead of the AIB GAA All-Ireland Hurling Senior Club Championship Final, which takes place this Sunday, January 22nd at Croke Park at 1.30pm. The AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships features some of #TheToughest players from communities all across Ireland. It is these very communities that the players represent that make the AIB GAA All-Ireland Club Championships unique. Now in its 32nd year supporting the GAA Club Championships, AIB is extremely proud to once again celebrate the communities that play such a role in sustaining our national games.
By John Harrington
Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland Club Hurling Final against Ballyhale Shamrocks won’t be the first that Dunloy goalkeeper Ryan Elliott has contested.
In fact, as a boy he played in hundreds of them in the front yard with and against current team-mates like Keelan Molloy, Eoin Nealon, and his cousin Nigel.
Back then it was easy for them to imagine that yard was Croke Park and they were playing for the Tommy Moore Cup because they’d travelled to Dublin to see their club do just that in 2003 and 2004.
On Sunday they’ll get to do it for real and in the process no doubt inspire a whole new generation of Dunloy hurlers to aim for the stars too.
“Aye, we were just brought up in a place that's hurling mad,” says Elliott. “That's all we done when we were young boys. You were always hurling a ball.
“We were looking up to the teams of the noughties. And the older ones were looking up to the nineties team and that kind of brings you on.
“Hopefully the young ones in Dunloy are looking up to us and the next generation are feeding off us.”
Dunloy’s semi-final victory over St. Thomas’ was commonly regarded as a surprise, but not for the players themselves.
Such is the club’s history in this competition – they’ve reached the All-Ireland Final four times previously – that they fully believe they can beat any opponent.
“Yeah, 100 per cent,” says Elliott. “We see ourselves no different to any other club team in Ireland. Going into the semi-final the shackles were off. At the start of the year you have to win your county first but the strong message was that we need to win an Ulster title.
“We made no secret of that. We got over that line and the shackles were off and we just went in with a lot of confidence into the St. Thomas' match.
“We definitely didn't see it as a shock, beating St. Thomas'. We were fully confident going in, and that's no disrespect to St. Thomas' because they're a brilliant, brilliant team. We were very confident in our own ability.
“The Ulster teams coming into the All-Ireland series, I think people kind of write them off. Slaughtneil gave Ballygunner a very good game. Gave Ballyhale a very good game too and very unlucky both days. We knew we were able to compete and thankfully we got the win that day.”
Dunloy Cuchullains joint-captains Paul Shiels, left, and Ryan Elliott lift the trophy after the AIB Ulster GAA Hurling Senior Club Championship Final match between Dunloy Cuchullains of Antrim and Slaughtneil of Derry at Athletics Grounds in Armagh.
Dunloy probably wouldn’t have beaten St. Thomas’ were it not for Slaughtneil.
They lost to them in the Ulster Championship on three occasions (2017, 2019, 2021) before they had finally learned enough to beat them in the 2022 decider.
Slaughtneil forced them to improve, and finally defeating the Derry side has felt like a release for the Dunloy players.
“Maybe we were too young the first year, people thought it might come naturally the following years but no, they're an unbelievable side too, and it took a lot to get over them, and it's filled us with confidence really, since beating them,” says Elliott.
“I think that was weighing on our backs like. We were the first Dunloy team to lose an Ulster championship match, in 2017, and that added its own pressure to us. That weight is off our shoulders now, we got over the line in Ulster and now we're in an All-Ireland final.”
They’re huge underdogs going into Sunday’s Final against a Ballyhale Shamrocks team that has contested the last three deciders, winning two of them, but Dunloy won’t back down from the challenge.
“People were saying we didn't have a chance in the Ulster final against Slaughtneil, and the same for the semi-final against Thomas' and we overcame them hurdles.
“So, look, we know it's a massive task ahead, I don't know how many All-Stars they have but they're an unbelievable team.
“We're going to give it everything we have and hopefully that'll be enough.”
