BRENDAN Rogers, Shane McGuigan, Cormac O’Doherty – they may not be involved this year, but Chrissy and Karl McKaigue are in there too among the many names synonymous with Sleacht Néill’s success across the last decade.
But what has been critical to that remarkable run is the addition of hungry young men to bolster those ranks year upon year, helping sustain a charge that has seen the chasing pack kept at arm’s length in Derry while setting the standard in Ulster.
In more recent times, however, a couple of nagging questions refused to go away.
Dunloy, having fallen short twice, finally got the better of Sleacht Néill in the 2022 final. Then Cushendall brushed them aside 12 months later, with Michael McShane stepping away shortly after.
Had their era come to an end?
The answer, emphatically, was no – and the emergence of 18-year-old Finn McEldowney and 19-year-old Conor Coyle has breathed new life into the operation, with revenge reaped on Cushendall before pulling away from Portaferry at the death to reclaim the Four Seasons Cup.
While the more experienced Sleacht Néill players have amassed a horde of medals through the years, it was a first provincial crown for the teenage duo – and, for Coyle, another step on a journey he wasn’t sure would come.
He was on the bench at the Athletic Grounds last year, serving as sub goalkeeper in case anything happened to regular number one Oisin O’Doherty, and seeing very little action.
Coming into 2024 under new boss Paul McCormack, Coyle was determined to make his presence felt out the field – and, as Sleacht Néill look ahead to Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final showdown with Munster champions Sarsfield, he has been an integral part of this year’s success story.
“Ah, it’s some feeling, from sub goalkeeper last year,” he said.
“I’m not exactly sure how it came about… through underage I did nets a few times for the age level above, it was never really something I wanted - to be a goalkeeper - but I was asked to do it so I did.
“This year, though, I knew I wanted to push on and try and push for a place outfield. Now I’m here, we’ve just won an Ulster title...
“It doesn’t feel like that long ago we were sitting in the stand, watching all them boys you’re playing with now going up against Na Piarsaigh, Ballyhale, Ballygunner… it’s a surreal feeling to be out playing with those boys, in those kind of games, when you grew up watching them.
“We’ve been beat now in a couple of All-Ireland semi-finals before, we’ve been hurt before and we want to get over the line next time.
“We never played to our level [against Portaferry] but in the second half we drove it on a bit. We knew we’d done the work all year and that we had the legs, it showed in the second half when we had the runners to get the goals that got us back into the game.”
It has been an unforgettable first year at the helm for McCormack too.
A former dual player with Armagh, and part of the 2002 All-Ireland winning panel, it was special that such huge occasions against Cushendall and Portaferry should be played out so close to home.
“There’s a lot of locals in watching but it’s not about me, it’s about those men.
“When I met the people from the club and a couple of the players, I was absolutely honoured that they would be thinking that they would want me to be part of their special community.
“It was a brilliant opportunity and I wanted to show them what I could bring.”
McCormack has embraced the challenge in some style, with Rogers pointing to the Keady man’s background in both codes as a reason why this year has seen Sleacht Néill rediscover their mojo.
“Maybe so – maybe they were thinking ‘right, what do we need here?’
“Obviously I can see both sides of it, but the bottom line is players want to play. When I was a player, I wanted to play; sometimes you played two games in the one day because you just loved it.
“Those boys loving playing for Sleacht Néill, that’s the bottom line, and I honed in on that. I was gutted for them in the football, and I mean that. I was at a lot of the championship matches, I’d be at all the sessions - I want them to do well, whatever they’re doing.
“I said to a number of the dual players who came back in ‘I want you to enjoy yourselves, men’. This is a different game to football. The way football has gone, it’s rigid and it’s hard to play, so I said just go out and be yourselves.”
