AIB Ulster Club SHC final: Slaughtneil (Derry) 0-23 Naomh Eoin (Antrim) 0-10
Slaughtneil retained their Ulster title with a comfortable 13-point point win over Naomh Eoin at the Athetic Grounds. The outstanding Cormac O’Doherty top scored for the Emmet’s, with Oisín McManus hitting nine in a losing cause.
Slaughtneil, having contested nine of the last the last dozen Ulster finals, have now won six of the last nine provincial titles.
The maroon and whites ran in 0-9 to 0-5 ahead at half-time. The underdogs opened the evening’s scoring courtesy of a McManus free, but would wait another 18 minutes before the same player would work their scoreboard a second time. The Antrim men would rue any number of early wides with the pattern of the game yet to unfold.
What the opening half lacked in slick hurling and point conversions it more than made up with meaty and physical challenges as befits two sides battling for the biggest prize in the province. Despite facing a slight breeze, the holders led 0-4 to 0-1 after the opening quarter. Shea Cassidy’s ninth- minute free finally got the Emmet’s up and running, before points from Se McGuigan, Cormac O’Doherty and a humdinger from Eamon Cassidy handed Slaughtneil a firm grip of proceedings.
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With the Johnnies attempts to carry the ball out from the back and their short puck-out strategy yielding mixed results, the slightly misfiring Emmet’s still managed to chisel out a buffer on the scoreboard through scores from Shane McGuigan and Brendan Rogers.
Paul McNeill was the pick of the early Slaughtneil’s highly impressive defenders, mixing tenacious tackling and pacy raids forward.
McManus would be Naomh Eoin’s sole contributor to their scorecard in the first half – his four frees providing the curtain-raiser for a 28th-minute missile from his own half that left the Antrim champions four behind at the break.
O’Doherty’s almighty free ignited second-half proceedings in which the Emmet’s quickly found a gear their opponents couldn’t live with. Seán Wilson’s 39th-minute point would be the Johnnies only score outside of McManus who would account for nine of his side’s 10 points. By contrast the winners boasted nine different scorers with Chrissy McKaigue’s second-half brace and umpteen O’Doherty clinkers among their scores.
A victory built of breathless and tenacious defensive work, Paul McCormack’s Derry men, with the Four Season Cup once more in the bag, must raise their game when they next face Galway champions Loughrea.
SLAUGHTNEIL: O O’Doherty; F McEldowney, P McNeill, C McAllister; R Ó Mianáin, C O’Doherty (0-10, 9f), M McGrath; S McGuigan (0-1), C Ó Mianáin (0-1); M McGuigan, Se McGuigan (0-2), E Cassidy (0-1); B Rogers (0-2), S Cassidy (0-3, 2fs), C McKaigue (0-2).
Subs: J McGuigan for S Cassidy (39 mins); P McCullagh for E Cassidy (51); C Coyle for M McGrath (56); G Bradley for S McGuigan (57); P Burke (0-1) for C McKaigue (59).
NAOMH EOIN: D Nugent; R McNulty, C Johnston, J Bohill; C Morgan, P McCallin, E McGurk; S Wilson (0-1), A Bradley; O Donnelly, C Johnston, C Bohill; D Carson, S Shannon, O McManus (0-9, 7f).
Subs: C Hanna for P Callin, M Bradley for S Shannon (both 56 mins).
