After two long years on the outside looking in, a return to the top of Ulster’s club hurling ladder should be seen as marking a hugely successful season for Sleacht Néill.
Having established themselves as the dominant force in the province for half-a-decade, consecutive Ulster final defeats to the Antrim champions might have been considered a reset to the established order.
No Derry club had ever won Ulster until Sleacht Néill in 2016. Then they could hardly stop.
Bar 2018 when Ballycran caught them cold in the Ulster semi-final, the Derry champions won four titles in five attempts.
But they never managed to take the extra step into an All-Ireland final. Last-four defeats came in different flavours. They were comfortably beaten by Cuala, made a mess of a match-winning position to collapse against 13-man Na Piarsaigh, gave everything in a thrilling slugfest against Ballyhale and were kept at arm’s length by Ballygunner. But there was another flavour to come, leaving a taste it will take Sleacht Néill time to get rid of.
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After both their dramatic Ulster Championship wins, an extra-time epic against defending champions Cushendall and a furious final comeback against Portaferry, manager Paul McCormack – in his first season after succeeding Michael McShane – simply stated his unwavering faith in his players’ ability to win. Never in doubt.
After the All-Ireland semi-final against Sarsfield’s you could tell that nothing had changed. He never doubted for a second that his players would be able to pull it out. Except this time they didn’t.
And they really should have. Which is why, for all the joyous scenes that followed the recapture of Ulster, 2024 will be a tougher year to look back on than the rest in Sleacht Néill’s storied recent history. Much tougher.
After Cushendall overturned Dunloy’s Storm Ashley-assisted half-time lead to retain their Antrim title, they were favourites for the Ulster semi-final against Sleacht Néill, who eased to their 12th Derry crown in-a-row with a final win over Banagher.
In truth there was only one team in it. A brilliantly accurate Sleacht Néill were by far the better side and should have been comfortable winners. But as long as Cushendall have Neil McManus they have a chance and his last-gasp goal - part of a 3-9 haul - sent the match to extra-time. The additional 20 minutes finally saw Sleacht Néill pull clear to win by five points.
They showed a different kind of resilience in the final, a match they started as strong favourites, overturning an eight-point second-half deficit against Portaferry – who beat Ballygalget in the Down final to complete a title hat-trick – to win by three.
It was a huge result for Derry hurling, which came within a puck of a ball of a clean sweep of provincial titles with Ballinascreen beating East Cavan Gaels at junior level and Swatragh losing the intermediate final to Antrim champions Carey by a point. Both winners faced strongly favoured Cork opposition in their All-Ireland semi-finals and both lost heavily, Ballinascreen to Russell Rovers and Carey to Watergrasshill.
Sleacht Néill were also underdogs in their All-Ireland semi-final against a Cork club - but only just, a reflection of how open the concluding stages of the championship appeared.
As the Ulster champions left Newbridge on the wrong side of a 0-18 to 0-17 defeat there was plenty to lament, not least referee James Owens’ decision to show yellow rather than red to Jack O’Connor for a badly mistimed challenge on Cormac O’Doherty.
Much more than a glancing blow, direct to the head, attempted hook or not, it was a sending off. It came less than three minutes into the second half; O’Connor ended up man-of-the-match.
But, even then, Sleacht Néill had the chances to put away their Cork opponents, the last of which in injury-time found captain Mark McGuigan on his heels when he received O’Doherty’s pass in front of goal. As a result he spooned his shot over the bar rather than thumping it under it.
A difference of inches, the distance between Sleacht Néill and their dream destination.
Going back to January and the last action in the previous season’s All-Ireland club championship, and things were every bit as tight.
Back then St Thomas’ lifted the Tommy Moore Cup for the second time thanks to a miraculous point swung over by Eanna Burke with 30 seconds of stoppage time remaining to squeak past O’Loughlin Gaels.
Both finalists had reached the decider by the skin of their teeth in December with St Thomas’ beating Ballygunner after extra-time and penalties and O’Loughlin Gaels edging out a wasteful Cushendall by a point.
But neither All-Ireland finalist made it out of their county in 2024, with St Thomas’ losing the Galway semi-final to Cappataggle and O’Loughlin Gaels well beaten by Thomastown in the Kilkenny decider.
Ballygunner did manage to retain their Waterford crown, their 11th in a row, and were strong favourites for a Munster championship that included only one other team returning from 2023.
That was Sarsfield’s, who couldn’t defend their Cork title but progressed into Munster as the team that beat them in the final, Imokilly, are a divisional side and ineligible.
Given that Ballygunner obliterated them by 17 points last year and a Cork team hadn’t even won a game in the province since 2016, hopes weren’t high that Sarsfield’s could end the county’s drought in the competition that stretched back to Newtownshandrum in 2009. But Sars’ first beat Clare champions Feakle in the semi then stunned Ballygunner in the final.
In the January 19 decider they’ll play Na Fianna, who followed hot on the heels of Leinster football champions Cuala to join their fellow Dubliners as cross-code provincial kingpins.
After losing by a point in the 2023 final to O’Loughlin Gaels, the Glasnevin side – managed by new Dublin boss Niall Ó Ceallacháin – beat Clough-Ballacolla from Laois, Wexford champions St Martin’s and Offaly’s Kilcormac Killoughy to take provincial honours.
They trailed for most of the All-Ireland semi-final to Galway champions Loughrea but pulled level by the 55th and eventually won through thanks to an AJ Murphy point in stoppage time.
Last season the semi-finals and final were decided by a point, penalties, and a point again.
A point was the margin in both last-four clashes this year. Early odds suggest the final will be no different.
Swap in either of the losing semi-finalists and nothing would change that calculation. That’s how close Sleacht Néill were. How close they are. Whether they’ll be that close again is a tougher question. Much tougher.
