Oisin McConville: Not pretty, but Dr Crokes just needed to get over the line

On this occasion Slaughtneil’s discipline let them down just when they needed to be at their best, writes Oisin McConville.

Going into the final, Dr Crokes wanted to spread Slaughtneil out and resist getting into a dogfight, which is what the Ulster champions wanted. The strange thing was in a battle of wills nobody really got their way.

Crokes at times were able to take advantage of running through the middle, where Daithí Casey looked threatening and Brian Looney was able to kick a few good scores but the expansive game they prefer so much was lacking. Not that they will mind one iota, but we’ll come back to that.