AIB Ulster Club SHC semi-final: Portaferry (Down) 3-19 Cushendall (Antrim) 4-28 (after extra-time)
CUSHENDALL cruised into an eagerly-anticipated Ulster final showdown with Slaughtneil thanks to a comfortable 11-point victory over Portaferry yesterday - or so the scoreboard would have you believe.
The real story of a pulsating afternoon in Armagh was not even nearly reflected by what the illuminated numbers displayed at the end as deflated, exhausted Portaferry bodies sank to the turf amid maroon celebrations.
That is not to take a thing away from the Ruairi Ogs, who surged clear in extra-time, a brace of goals from the lethal Joe McLaughlin and an Alex Delargy major inflicting critical damage on the Down champions’ dreams of causing an upset.
Yet, heading into added time in normal time, they had it right there in the palm of their hands. A game that ebbed and flowed from minute one finally looked destined to go Portaferry’s way when a Tom McGrattan score nudged them four clear on the strike of 60.
All they had to do was hold on. Yet, as Cushendall have shown so many times through the years, that is much easier said than done – especially when Neil McManus is in the mood.
With their hopes of reaching a provincial decider since 2018 hanging by a thread, the former Antrim ace, who finished up with 1-14, proved once more that while his county career may be a thing of the past, he remains his club’s beating heart.
The 35-year-old’s score from near the sideline left a goal between the sides three minutes into the five shown up on the board, yet still Portaferry’s two-goal hero Niall Milligan had the chance to complete his hat-trick and surely seal victory, only for the outstretched boot of Conor McAlister to divert the sliothar clear.
It proved a sliding doors moment, as moments later McManus was felled by Barry Trainor 15 metres from goal. The Athletic Grounds hummed with a stomach-churning mixture of nerves and anticipation as the Cushendall captain dusted himself down and sized up the opportunity.
Six Portaferry bodies, including goalkeeper Pearce Smyth, took up their station on the line. Keep it out, and the job was done. But sometimes it feels as though McManus operates in another stratosphere, leaving him apparently immune to such pressure.
His low shot bumped and bobbled across the turf before somehow finding a home in the back of the Portaferry net, McManus reeling away hands aloft – another magic moment for a collection not quite complete just yet.
The lifeline had been greatly received and, when extra-time came, Cushendall weren’t about to let their second shot slip. Portaferry managed just five more scores while the dogged defence that held firm for so much of this game finally relented.
The Ruairi Ogs look ahead to Slaughtneil on December 3, while the Down champions will spend a few weeks wondering how this one got away.
“What can you say?” offered Portaferry manager Gerard McGrattan with a shrug of the shoulders.
“It was there, 60 minutes, we were four points up and it was turned over. You have to play until the final whistle.
“But I can’t fault the guys for their effort. That’s what happens in sport. You make a mistake, they get a break, the game can turn on its head.
“The guys were dead on their feet at the end, they’d put a lot of work in during the first 60 minutes. A few guys went off, it sort of unsettled the team, and Cushendall came on strong.”
Given they were eventually brushed aside by Slaughtneil at the same stage 12 months earlier, Portaferry showed the progress – particularly in terms of physicality – that has been made in the time between.
They came flying out of the traps as, McManus aside, Cushendall’s shooters malfunctioned, Niall Milligan’s goal after clever build-up play from Daithi and Eoghan Sands settling any early nerves, the superb Caolan Taggart leading the charge from centre-back.
Yet as Portaferry’s scores dried up, Cushendall found their feet to go in level at the break, 0-9 to 1-6. When Brian Delargy’s men rattled off four of the first five scores of the second half, it looked as though they might run away with it.
But another goal brought Portaferry back into the game, Milligan punishing some sloppy defensive work and breathing new life into their challenge. It was toe-to-toe from there, until Eoghan Sands’s 46th minute effort dropped short, only for the sliothar to bounce off ’keeper McAlister’s hurl and into the net.
When such calamity strikes, you could be forgiven for wondering whether it was to be your day at all.
Yet, despite Dunloy’s dominance of Antrim in recent times, Cushendall still boast so many seasoned players made for days like these. They rolled with the punches and hit back every time Portaferry’s confidence started to soar, before McManus delivered the ultimate sucker punch to send the game to extra-time.
When McLaughlin plucked Fergus McCambnridge’s ball from the air before hammering home, this was only going to go one way as they added a further four answered before the break.
The damage was done by that stage, further goals from McLaughlin and Delargy sealing the deal in clinical fashion as Cushendall romped across the line.
And, although they haven’t had a competitive outing since a comprehensive Derry final destruction of Kevin Lynch’s nine weeks ago, Delargy knows exactly what kind of test awaits.
“Slaughtneil are probably the most experienced club at timing everything right, whether it’s hurling or football… they’d have been sitting in the long grass gunning for whoever’s coming out of this semi-final.
“They’ve had their friendlies against club teams from down south and a few up round Ulster, so they’ll be ready for it.”
Portaferry: P Smyth; D Mallon, T Murray, R Smyth; B Trainor, C Taggart (0-1), C Savage; M Conlan (0-1), S Conlan; P Doran (0-3, frees), F Turpin (0-2), E Sands (1-2); T McGrattan (0-5, 0-3 frees), N Milligan (2-0), D Sands (0-4). Subs: N Fitzsimmons (0-1) for Doran (37), C Fay for S Conlan (57), E O’Neill for E Sands (64), E Sands for M Conlan (70+1), C O’Neill for E Sands (72), R McCambridge for S Walsh (78)
Yellow cards: C Taggart (18), S Conlan (22), T Murray (32), E Sands (53), B Trainor (65)
Cushendall: C McAllister; P Burke (0-1), L Gillan, M Burke; S Walsh (0-1), E Campbell (0-1), A McNaughton; F McCurry (0-1), R McCambridge; R McAteer (0-1), N McManus (1-14, 0-1 65, 1-6 frees), F McCambridge (0-2); A Delargy (1-0), S McAfee, J McLaughlin (2-5). Subs: E McQuillan (0-2) for McAteer (46), C McNaughton for McAfee (53), P McGill for McCurry (59), C McClafferty for R McCambridge (63), J McCurry for A McNaughton (75), S Walsh for Campbell (76), F McCurry for McManus (79)
Yellow card: S Walsh (58)
Referee: T Conway (Derry)
