SLAUGHTNEIL are up against the best club team in Ireland says their manager Mark Doran ahead of Sunday’s Derry senior championship semi-final with Glen.
It’s impossible to disagree with the Longstone native because Glen’s recent record speaks for itself. They are chasing a Derry four in-a-row, an Ulster three in-a-row and an All-Ireland two in-a-row after they captured the ultimate club prize in January.
So the task is clear and the challenge is daunting, but it’s one that all competitors will relish and Slaughtneil – who’ve lost the last three county finals to their neighbours and were held to just 0-7 in each game – are certainly in that mould.
The Robert Emmets set the standards in the Oak Leaf county before Glen emerged as the dominant force. In what seems like the blink of an eye, Malachy O’Rourke’s side can equal the four in-a-row record set by Slaughtneil between 2014 and 2017, which matched the benchmark Bellaghy set from 1958 to 1961.
Slaughtneil beat Glenn by a goal in the first match of the group stage but, as manager Doran points out, Conor Glass didn’t play and Ethan Doherty didn’t start.
“They had a few of the big-hitters missing,” he says.
“There’s only one time to beat them – when it’s knockout!”
He knows that’s easier said than done.
Kilmacud Crokes are the last team to beat Glen in knock-out football and that was in the 2023 All-Ireland Club final. Even then, there was the rumpus over the ‘16th man’ on the field.
Lavey came close at the quarter-final stage. They were a point ahead with a minute to go but, showing the know-how of champions, Glen did not panic.
Calmly they got themselves out of trouble with three attacks and three scores.
Doran won’t have the injured Peter McCullough on Sunday but he is hoping that the rest of his panel – 26 out of the 30 are dual players – will be available, despite many of them playing either football or hurling 12 weeks in-a-row.
“If you’re a player, this is a game you want to be involved in,” says Doran as he looks forward to the clash of the neighbours.
“It’s a massive rivalry. In my time playing and managing in Down I never saw anything like it and in my time in Monaghan I never saw the like of it. But there’s massive respect among the players for each other – it’s a healthy rivalry. Slaughtneil players have serious respect for Glen and what they’ve done and it’s good to see that it’s not all ‘siege mentality’ or hatred.
“Don’t get me wrong, when they get onto the field they want to win – but there’s cousins in either side, friendships, work-mates, county team-mates…
“The last few years Glen have had the upper hand and in the few years before that Slaughtneil had it but Glen are county, Ulster and All-Ireland champions and they’re a serious team – the best club team in Ireland.
“It’s a serious challenge but it’s a good challenge for us because you want to test yourself against the best and Glen are the best. Nobody in Slaughtneil is under any illusions but it’s where they want to be – knock-out football in Owenbeg on Sunday – and once the ref throws the ball in they’ll go at it.
“If every player gives everything they have we can’t ask much more. If it’s enough… brilliant. If we can put our best foot forward and everybody produces then, yes, I’d be quietly confident. We can do it and it’s a two-horse race and, as I found out last year, these games take on a life of their own.
“Everything seems to go out the window. What’s happened previously doesn’t matter… It’s who performs on the day and, as a management team, we just hope that Slaughtneil go out and perform.”
