AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship semi-final: Robert Emmet’s, Slaughtneil (Derry) v Cuala (Dublin) (today, 3pm, Athletic Grounds, live on TG4)
IN a year of breakthroughs and odds-defying about turns, Slaughtneil’s hopes of keeping their audacious All-Ireland treble hopes alive faces its greatest challenge in Armagh today.
From the jaw-dropping, head-swirling despair of Brexit and Trump to the Andrea Bocelli-soundtracked fairytale fanfare of Leicester City’s 5,000/1 Premier League success (forget the fact it was soon time to say goodbye to Don Claudio), the past 12 months have served as a stark reminder that the underdog can still have its day.
Slaughtneil didn’t need the Italian tenor on Amhran na bhFiann duties as they ascended the football, hurling and camogie peaks in first Derry and then Ulster last autumn, their story among the most remarkable in Irish sporting history.
And it didn’t end there.
In the past month, the south Derry club’s camogs and footballers have advanced to the All-Ireland final stage, Mickey Moran’s men leaving the bookies blushing a fortnight ago as they handled star-laden St Vincent’s with relative ease.
Another Dublin outfit, this time slick southsiders Cuala, lie in wait for Slaughtneil in today’s All-Ireland hurling semi-final. The narrative is similar but the size of the task considered even more great, with the Emmet’s roundly seen as 11/2 outsiders.
This is nothing new for the Ulster champions heading into the last four. Cushendall weren’t fancied against Sarsfield’s this time last year but the Galway kingpins were despatched with 12 points to spare.
Even Loughgiel – the last club from the province to get its hands on the Tommy Moore Cup five years ago – were seen as outsiders in their 2012 semi showdown with Limerick’s Na Piarsaigh.
This Slaughtneil team is already developing a taste for giant-killing feats, having finally slayed the Shamrocks in October’s Ulster final, ending the long wait for the Four Seasons Cup to cross the Derry border.
A blistering opening 20 minutes, during which they hemmed Loughgiel into their own defensive third, paved the way for that historic victory as they stormed to a commanding early lead.
Just as he was for the footballers against St Vincent’s, hurlers’ captain Chrissy McKaigue was a force of nature that day at the Athletic Grounds.
Back at the scene of those unbridled celebrations today, Slaughtneil boss Michael McShane knows his side must try and sustain the early intensity they displayed against the Antrim champions.
The Ballycastle man is sweating on the fitness of “two or three” players who picked up knocks in the football semi-final, but is confident he will have a full deck to choose from.
“I can’t see anybody not playing,” he said.
“If anybody is unavailable to us we have a very strong panel and there’s people we would have great confidence in to come into the team.”
McShane and his management team have looked closely at Cuala, and will have found a team packed with talented operators.
Their scorer-in-chief is Dublin dual star Con O'Callaghan, who bagged a total of 6-10 in the Dalkey outfit’s Leinster campaign.
Considering how well Shane McGuigan marshalled Liam Watson in the Ulster final, he could be handed the brief, although the ultra-reliable Karl McKaigue is also seen as a safe pair of hands.
Beyond O’Callaghan, Mattie Kenny can call upon the unerring free-taking ability of David Treacy - he scored 11 points in the 3-19 to 1-16 Leinster final win over Kilkenny champions O'Loughlin Gaels - while Oisin Gough and the Schutte brothers, Mark and Paul, are also key players.
No matter who emerges today, a little bit of history will be made as neither Derry nor Dublin has ever had a club reach the All-Ireland hurling final.
When you look at the quality of opponents Cuala have seen off en route to this stage, it is obvious why they are such big favourites. But in this year of years, it would be foolish to write off Slaughtneil.
