WHEN the long whistle sounded at the end of last year’s Antrim final, James McNaughton wanted the ground to swallow him up – but now he is a man on a mission, determined to bring Loughgiel back to the big stage.
It isn’t a moment the 27-year-old enjoys reliving, but knows it is a key part of the story of that day, and possibly of other days to come.
Lining up a late free after a helter-skelter clash with Cushendall, McNaughton – whose goal minutes earlier dragged the Shamrocks back into contention - had the chance to level it up at the death.
Corrigan Park held its breath as he took aim, the sliothar appearing destined to go over the bar only to tail inches wide; the relieved Cushendall players starting their celebrations, Loughgiel - and McNaughton - sinking to the turf.
“Ah look, it’s a free I’ve scored, on my day, maybe eight, nine times out of 10 – it’s just unfortunate that one drifted to the right and wide,” he said.
“It’s one you do try and forget about, but it’s one that’ll always stay with you as well and drive you on to make sure there’s no stone left unturned to get back there and to get that chance again.
“You’d love to get back there to try and right the wrongs, but at the minute I’m not worried about anything that happened in the final last year, it’s all looking ahead to see how we can progress.”
And standing in the way of Shane McMahon’s men are the familiar figures of Dunloy, the club whose quest for a fifth Antrim crown in-a-row last year was brought to an unceremonious end by their north Antrim neighbours.
There were a few different factors at play that day in Ballycastle.
First of all, Dunloy’s dual obligations were clearly taking a physical toll as so many of the same players campaigned on both the football and hurling front deep into championship. Going in search of another Volunteer Cup, their mental edge may also have been blunted – with Loughgiel rebounding from an earlier hammering at the hands of Cushendall to somehow steer their campaign back on track.
Many were surprised by the manner in which Dunloy were swept aside that day, but those inside the Loughgiel camp definitely weren’t.
“Not really, naw. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t.
“After we got the licking by Cushendall in the group game, you could sense a change of mentality in the group, it was sort of ‘what have we got to lose here?’
“We were playing with freedom, hurling off the cuff, the way we wanted to do it. If we do that, and we play like that, I feel like we’re a match for anybody… we got a style of hurling that suited us, we developed it throughout the championship and it took us to a point off winning it.”
Twelve months on, though, and with the Cuchullain’s footballer bowing out at the quarter-final stage this time around, the stage is set for an epic encounter – with McNaughton expecting a different Dunloy to take the field in Cushendall on Sunday.
“You could probably see the hunger had went a bit from Dunloy last year, and that’s going to happen.
“I suppose there’s a reason why no team in Antrim has won five championships in-a-row – the hunger does go, and that’s obviously a massive factor.
“We showed more hunger and more work-rate last year, but we would expect Dunloy to come back with the same hunger they had to win their previous championships; I’m expecting them to come out all guns blazing.
“They’ll be hurting from last year and wanting to set the record straight... but at the same time we haven’t won a championship in eight years.
“We have to show the hunger to get back to where we were last year, and hopefully go that one step further – but all the focus is on Sunday and getting by that hurdle first.”
