Slaughtneil's Chrissy McKaigue pictured ahead of the AIB GAA Ulster Senior Hurling Championship final against Ballycran. This year’s AIB Club Championships celebrate #TheToughest players in Gaelic Games - those who are not defined by what they have won, but by how they persevere no matter what - and this Sunday’s showdown is set to be no exception.
By John Harrington
Chrissy McKaigue is hugely proud of the fact that Slaughtneil have a great tradition of being successful in both codes, but admits focusing exclusively on hurling has them nicely primed for Sunday’s AIB Ulster Club SHC Final against Down champions Ballycran.
Their Derry County Football Final defeat to Glen has given them a rare opportunity to sharpen up their hurling skills for an extended period of time, and the benefits were very obvious in their impressive Ulster semi-final win over Dunloy last weekend.
“Like any other game, what gives you confidence is your preparation,” says McKaigue.
“Although maybe we wouldn't have wanted that template of not having the football running alongside the hurling, that was the landscape we found ourselves in.
“Prior to the Dunloy game, we were able to focus on hurling for five weeks, which has made a massive difference, not having to juggle training, and being able to focus on the technical aspect of hurling. That's massive for us because we don't play a huge amount of hurling throughout the year. A lot of boys are away with county football.
“Our preparation prior to the Dunloy game was similar to the preparation that we had prior to the Ballyhale game (2020 All-Ireland semi-final).
“Our performance against Dunloy was fairly good, albeit still flawed in some areas.”
That 2020 All-Ireland semi-final against Ballyhale Shamrocks vividly illustrated just how good a hurling team Slaughtneil can be.
Slaughtneil's Chrissy McKaigue chases down Ballyhale Shamrocks' TJ Reid in the 2020 AIB All-Ireland Club SHC semi-final.
Ballyhale are reigning back to back All-Ireland champions, but arguably the hardest match they played in that two-year period was against Slaughtneil when they only made the game safe with a late goal.
“It was a five-point game without it being a five-point game,” says McKaigue. “Fennelly scored a goal with the last clip of the game. We had brought it back down to a point. I think Brendan Rodgers scored a goal with two or three minutes left.
“That day was a tale of what ifs. We were missing Paul McNeill that day too, not to make excuses, but he was a massive player in defence. He man-marked Conal Cunning in the last game for Dunloy, who is their standout player and forward.
“We are not a massive club, and we don't have an endless supply of players and resources. Thank God, Paul's back now after a couple of really bad injuries. We haven't had him and Karl [McKaigue] in the same team for quite a while now. Both have been injured at different times with serious injuries. They are back.”
Slaughtneil are warm favourites to beat Ballycran, but that was the case too when they met in the 2018 Ulster semi-final and the Down champions beat them well to halt their drive for a third Ulster title in a row.
“Yeah, there's not point in hiding from it, we were beaten comprehensively by them,” says McKaigue. “We didn't turn up at all.
“Things happen in championships that can shake you. Ballycran were very good on the day. They beat us. We have absolutely no qualms about that.
“We have been on the beaten track for a fair while now. The beauty of it is, we have had unbelievably good days as a group and some very hard days. 2018 against Ballycran was a very hard day but it’s in the past and all we can do is try to learn from it and focus on the present.
“We’ll need to battle and suffer as a team but we’ll put our best foot forward and if it’s good enough it’s good enough.”
