THE flares went up the second the long whistle went on Sunday evening – smoke signals letting all inside the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds that Sleacht Néill had returned to their throne as kings of Ulster.
For the second time in a fortnight, the Armagh ground bore witness to a monumental battle that hung in the balance until the very end. And, for the second time in a fortnight, it was the Derry champions who lived to fight another day.
This time, though, the roles were reversed. Portaferry – searching for a first provincial crown since 2014 - started the way Sleacht Néill had against Cushendall, roaring into every challenge and punishing every mistake to move clearly into the ascendancy.
Heading towards the final quarter, the men from the Ards peninsula led by eight – then bang, and bang again. Two minutes, two goals from Se McGuigan and Shea Cassidy, the air out of the balloon, a game completely turned on its head.
Sleacht Néill have been around too many corners through the years to let this one slip, especially after suffering Ulster final heartbreak in the last two years.
And they saw the job out in typical fashion, leaving Portaferry to pick the bones from a second gut-wrenching Ulster championship defeat in succession, while the Robert Emmett’s go to play Munster champions Sarsfields on December 15.
A first Ulster title in his first year at the helm but, even when everything was going against them, when the game looked to be slipping away, Armagh native Paul McCormack still believed.
“I knew we would win the match, somehow - just somehow,” said the Keady man.
“I felt we had the men in that dressing room who had hurt two years in-a-row, and from the first time I was up with them, they knew that they hadn’t just done themselves justice.
“I did my research, a lot of groundwork, got to know the players, got to know what makes them tick, and what I found as the year went on was that they really wanted this title badly, and they weren’t going to stop until they had it.
“It didn’t look good at times, but I just knew they would find a way. They just can do that; they have the experience, the game sense, the tricks of the trade I suppose and that’s built up over years.
“I knew after the second goal, we weren’t going to get beat… I just knew we had it.”
Yet McCormack admitted it wasn’t until recent days that he felt his side had finally moved on from that epic semi-final win over Cushendall.
“Friday night was the only time since where I felt we were back to ourselves. There was a huge outpouring of emotion that night - energy, everything.
“The whole community, their parents… the match was on RTE, they went home and they watched it, they couldn’t sleep, then the next day everybody was just talking about the match.
“I was hearing that too, I was conscious that takes time to recover from, so it wasn’t until Friday night I thought we were back where we had to be.”
Portaferry boss Gerard McGrattan had little to say; no-one could expect anything else. And, just as 12 months ago, he and his players will take time to try and make sense of how this one slipped from their grasp.
“Two minutes, two goals just changed the game,” he sighed.
“Momentum swung, everything they hit then seemed to go over the bar. That’s the way things go - you have to see it out.
“That’s why they’re a good team, and why they’ve been competing at the top level for so long. But that doesn’t make it any easier for us to take.”
