'This is genuine. The phrase, ‘ten in a row’ has not been mentioned in our changing room once'
ALL TOGETHER: Slaughtneil players before the All-Ireland Club semi against Ballygunner.
BY half-time of the Cavan county hurling final of 2011, things were looking bleak for Ballymachugh.
They had just 0-2 on the board and trailed by four points. It seemed like a formality that Mullahoran Dreadnoughts were set to continue the greatest ‘winningest’ streak in club Championship history and stretch it out to 22 consecutive years.
That was before three goals flew into the Mullahoran net in the opening nine minutes of the second half. The champions only managed three second half points and their run was halted in dramatic fashion. Ballymachugh cut loose in their celebrations. There wasn’t a Championship played the following season.
Just to the northwest, the second longest streak belongs to Burt, on the Inishowen peninsula, with 16 Donegal titles between 1991 to 2006.
The third longest? Lisbellaw St Patrick’s in Fermanagh. Back when they began their run in 1991, there were six hurling clubs in the county. They reached 14 in a row before losing to Lisnaskea Emmetts in 2005. In fact, if they had overcome Lisnaskea in that one game, their run would have been 23 consecutive McKeown Cups.
When the last one was awarded to them in 2014, with the Lisnaskea senior team folding, they were the only hurling club left standing in the county.
The temptation is there to believe that the paucity of opposition in lower-level hurling counties was responsible for such scenarios.
St Mary’s in Leitrim compiled a dozen starting in 1999. Mayo’s Tooreen put ten together from 1978. Tubbercurry in Sligo also reached ten from 1995.
After that, there are a smattering of Waterford champions; Erin’s Own, Mount Sion on nine. Current champions Ballygunner are on nine including their recent success.
This Sunday in Owenbeg, Slaughtneil are bidding to reach double figures when they face Kevin Lynch’s in the Derry county final. That Lynch’s provide the opposition makes it appropriate and adds a little pepper to the mix.
The Dungiven-based club are top of the Roll of Honour with 23 titles, but never compiled more than half a dozen titles consecutively.
Slaughtneil are unbackable favourites, with the incredible odds of 1/10 offered this week. They have beaten Lynch’s in the last three finals. The average winning margin is slightly greater than eight points. Go back beyond that to the other finals in that run and the average winning margin is 11.6 points.
Ulster club champions for four of the last five competitions, they ran eventual All-Ireland champions Ballygunner to five points in the All-Ireland semi-final last January.
They are decorated with some supreme hurlers in Cormac O’Doherty, Meehaul McGrath, Gerald Bradley, the McKaigue brothers Chrissy and Karl and Sean ‘Tad’ Cassidy.
Along with the combative Jerome McGuigan, fresh from breaking the Internet last weekend after his long dribble and beautifully chipped goal in their football Championship win over Clady that went viral, causing a searching debate over whether the style of the goal was in keeping with the aims and desires of true Gaels everywhere.
If there is a crumb of comfort for Lynch’s, it comes in the question mark over Brendan Rogers’ involvement. One of the best hurlers in Ulster and one of the best dual players in the country, he injured his hand in a football match against Lavey recently and has come through two procedures to get himself right for this.
From Ballycastle in Antrim, Slaughtneil manager Michael McShane is going for his eighth title in charge this weekend. He knows it sounds like plamás, but he insists there is no chat about breaking records flying around the dressing room.
“I am telling you now and you might think I am only saying this, but this is genuine. The phrase, ‘Ten in a row’ has not been mentioned in our changing room once, or in our group, or in our meetings or anything like that. It’s never been mentioned,” he insists.
“And it’s a simple reason. We never talked about nine in a row, or eight in a row or any of those things.
“We just look on each Championship and take it on their own merits. We know if we want to win a Derry Championship any year, we are going to have to work hard to do it. And if we do that, we can step up to the next level and that’s where we want to go to.
“That’s the way we look at it. Genuinely, ‘Ten in a row’ has not been mentioned.” He’s willing to concede that if the result falls in their favour, then it may just get an airing afterwards. But a group of players such as these don’t tend to do a lot of gazing into the rearview mirror. Not with someone like Chrissy McKaigue on hand to douse everything with cold water.
January’s defeat to Ballygunner was a hammer blow to all. But McShane has compiled an impressive backroom team over the years and was reluctant to step down.
As Ballygunner appreciate, dominating your county gives you a regular platform on the provincial stage. Slaughtneil have come up against Dunloy in Ulster and have always just had too much for them.
Given how difficult they made life for eventual winners Ballyhale in 2020 and Ballygunner this year, they recognise that tweaks rather than wholesale change is the formula to take the ultimate step.
“Most importantly, the players were very keen for us as a management team to stay on,” says McShane.
“That’s probably the biggest factor of all. If the players are happy with you, then you can certainly go forward. If they are not happy with you, there’s no point trying to go forward.
“I spoke with my own family. It is a big commitment. But it is also very enjoyable. It’s probably once in a lifetime opportunity managing a team of this kind, so dedicated to their game, to their sport. So committed.
“Even though I have been watching them over the last number of years, they are still as hungry as ever.”
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