It’s a generous three-hour spin from Emmet Park to Newbridge but Slaughtneil hurlers have always been mad for road. The five-time Ulster champions have played more championship hurling outside their own county than Sunday’s other three semi-finalists combined. Winning 12 Derry titles in a row helps push them front and centre in club hurling’s shop window more than most.
That dominance wasn’t a flick of the switch when they toppled previous kingpins Kevin Lynch’s in the 2013 semi-final. Yes, it was a significant changing of the guard but concrete had been pouring into the foundations over the two previous decades. Limerick hosted the All-Ireland Féile in 1995.
It was Slaughtneil’s first ever taste with a group that would go on win two Ulster minor titles before bolstering their 2000 winning senior team. It was the last senior title before the current dominance. The late Thomas Cassidy was manager.
He was also in charge of their U12 winning team on the same day. It was the club’s first U12 success, with Chrissy McKaigue as captain, a full 16 years before he skippered their first Ulster senior winning team. In an emotional speech that night, just days after Cassidy’s passing, McKaigue pointed to the floor of Slaughtneil hall as he hoisted the Ulster silver into the air.
It was the very floor where Cassidy introduced him to hurling. The ultimate tribute. You had to be there.
You’d have struggled to have found a dry eye in the house. The purchase of indoor hurl.
