THE end of one era and, at Armagh’s Athletic Grounds on Saturday evening, the continuation of another as Slaughtneil and Cushendall come together once more in the Ulster arena.
At a time, it felt as though the Slaughtneil-Dunloy rivalry would never end; that it would dominate the provincial landscape for the foreseeable, with whoever came out of Down struggling to bridge a widening gap.
It goes to show how the status quo is only ever a semi-permanent state in Ulster hurling. Portaferry, who await the winners of Saturday’s clash in the December 1 decider, will go in with genuine ambitions of ending a decade-long wait for the Four Seasons Cup – irrespective of who is in the opposite corner.
Having been given a bit of a lesson by Slaughtneil in 2022, they licked their wounds and bounced back stronger, coming crushingly close to beating Cushendall last year. A further 12 months down the line, fire in the belly has never burned more brightly.
Slaughtneil and Dunloy traded blows for three years on the trot, the dogged Derry champions just managing to keep the Cuchullains at bay before the levy broke in 2022 when Gregory O’Kane’s men at last claimed the crown.
In the short time between, though, the landscape has altered significantly.
Slaughtneil have carried on winning Derry titles, victory over Banagher last month making it 12 in succession. But the man who delivered nine of those, Michael McShane, has since departed, replaced by former Armagh dual player Paul McCormack.
Meanwhile McShane’s old sparring partner, Gregory O’Kane, announced on Friday that he was bringing the curtain down on an 11-year stint in charge of his beloved Dunloy.
O’Kane’s departure came just weeks after Cushendall further cemented the changing of the guard in Antrim, making it back-to-back titles on a day when Storm Ashley battered Ballycastle.
Even after going on to beat Slaughtneil in last year’s Ulster final, and leaving an All-Ireland final spot behind them in gut-wrenching defeat to O’Loughlin Gaels, beating Dunloy – regardless of what role the elements played – was a monkey off their backs.
Because the Cuchullains regularly had Cushendall’s number during a period of dominance that brought four county titles on the spin. As O’Kane has since pointed out, there’s a reason no club has ever done five in-a-row in Antrim, and the dual demands of the footballers’ run to a first county final in 82 years ultimately took a heavy toll on the hurlers.
When the time came, it was north Antrim rivals Loughgiel who inflicted the final, bruising blow before succumbing to Cushendall a fortnight later. But winning another title - and claiming Dunloy’s scalp along the way - will have made this one all the more sweet.
“The boys enjoyed it - we all did,” said Ruairi Og boss Brian Delargy.
“But they were back on the pitch on the Thursday. You sometimes bring them back the first night and go easy, but the boys came back in good form and raring to go again, so since that Thursday it’s been really good and the standards have gone up.
“We’d a challenge game and a lot of work done… it was important to get a challenge game as we have a panel of 33 and not a lot of them see game-time coming into the championship.
“You keep everybody fresh with a game and everybody got at least half an hour, so it was worthwhile, and hopefully it will stand to us.”
What isn’t in doubt is Cushendall’s uncanny ability to edge close encounters when the chips are down.
Any time a major gut check has been required, with the exception of that All-Ireland semi-final defeat, Delargy’s men have answered the call.
There was just a point in last year’s Antrim final before they came from five behind late on to take Portaferry into extra-time, where the Ruairi Ogs put the boot on the Down champions’ throat.
Against Dunloy four weeks ago, Cushendall rattled off five scores, with only one in reply, during a period that saw them finally break the Cuchullains’ resistance.
“I’d prefer they didn’t have to grit the teeth as much, but our boys are well conditioned,” said Delargy, “it’s just about getting over the line, and doesn’t matter if it’s one point or 10 points.”
However, the length of the break to Ulster always throws up something of the unknown; a blessing or a curse that only shows itself once the white line has been crossed.
Storm Ashley saw Slaughtneil’s Derry final pushed back a week and, with no challenge matches organised for the three weeks between then and now, they have relied solely on in-house games to sharpen hurling skills after the footballers’ campaign came to an end in the county semi-final.
There is still a heavy reliance on many of the men who made the breakthrough, with Sé McGuigan, Brendan Rogers, Gerald Bradley, Sean Cassidy, Oisin and Cormac O’Doherty survivors of the 2013 Derry final while another from that crop - captain Gareth O’Kane - is part of McCormack’s backroom team.
The McKaigue brothers, Chrissy and Karl – cornerstones of so much of Slaughtneil’s success – haven’t picked a sliothar this year. The influential Ruairí Ó Mianáin limped off midway through the second half of that one-sided win over Banagher, but is expected to feature on Saturday.
And they will need him, because the Emmet’s are about to move into an entire different league in terms of physicality and intensity in comparison to anything faced in recent months.
That is always the challenge but, having been served a huge warning in last year’s semi-final, Cushendall know there remains no room for error. The Ruairi Ogs are the one Antrim heavyweight Slaughtneil haven’t managed to down on the big stage – that is unlikely to change on Saturday.
