JOHNNY MCINTOSH: Where the Ulster final will be won and lost!

IT has all the makings of a brilliant Ulster final. Defending champions Sleacht Néill versus a St John’s team that has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I think it’s worked out well for St John’s so far. If they’d been paired with a Portaferry or Sleacht Néill in the semi-final, it may have come too soon for them after winning their first Antrim Championship in a long, long time.

Instead, they were pitted against Donegal representatives Setanta, and no disrespect intended, but St John’s were always going to win that game. It gave St John’s a bit of a soft landing if you like, and now they’ll be completely tuned into facing a team of the pedigree of Sleacht Néill.

On the flipside, Sleacht Néill are usually a bit undercooked coming out of Derry so they’ll be happy to get a tough semi-final against Portaferry under their belts, so it makes for a really interesting dynamic – both teams are exactly where they want to be heading into Saturday night’s showdown.

St John’s will be praying that I bet against them. I’ve been doing commentary on nearly every one of their matches, and it hasn’t escaped their notice that I haven’t always backed them. I had them pegged as big underdogs going in against Cushendall in the Antrim SFC semi-final. I was probably every bit as derisory towards them heading into the final against Loughgiel and again they proved me wrong.

To be fair, they are a very strong team. They’ve probably massively underachieved in Antrim over the last 10 years – they’ve had so many close calls in semi-finals and have been really unlucky.

So they know as well as anyone how difficult it is to win a county championship, and I think they’ll want to make the most of the opportunity in front of them. They know that Sleacht Néill were only a puck of the ball away from reaching last year’s All-Ireland final, and momentum is a powerful thing.

I think nine St John’s lads have been called up to the Antrim squad as well, which is a sign of how much they’ve improved and developed. Without meaning to overhype them, I think they’ll fancy their chances at having a really good crack at this Sleacht Néill team.

They started their championship slowly, managing a draw against St Enda’s, but they seem to have added that bit of resilience under manager Gerard Cunningham. Against Rossa, they looked dead and buried, but they brought it back level and won out in normal time. So they’ve gained belief, but Sleacht Néill will really test that with their physicality and the way they play. Sometimes Antrim teams struggle with Sleacht Néill’s running style, but St John’s are a strong traditional hurling team, so I think they’ll be able to deal with that.

Another thing that St John’s have in their locker, is that they have two or three really good man-markers. I think they could assign four of their defenders to specific Sleacht Néill players. Brendan Rogers will be man-marked, and if Chrissy McKaigue goes to full-forward, I don’t think Ciaran Johnston will take him – I think St John’s will probably assign someone slightly bigger physically.

So there’s a lot for them to think about, but they do have some really good man-markers who negated some top players in the Antrim Championship.

The big battle for me will be Sleacht Néill’s half-back line versus St John’s full-back line. They’ll probably play Conor Johnston at 11, and it’ll be fascinating to see whether Sleacht Néill will push up on him as he tends to go everywhere as a play-maker. What they decide to do with Conor could be the winning and losing of the game.

Sleacht Néill’s full-back line is very physical as well, while St John’s have very quick, nippy forwards. If Sleacht Néill can neutralise that, force them to take scores from out the field and cut out St John’s goal threat, I think it will be Sleacht Néill’s day to tell you the truth.

Their experiences level would point to a Sleacht Néill victory, but one other thing I’d say about them, is they always bring that bit of a chip on their shoulder. They feel that they need to prove to themselves that they’re better than these Antrim teams. On this occasion, they’re red-hot favourites, and that’s something they’re going to have to contend with as well.

It all adds up to what should be a serious battle. I don’t think there’s going to be more than a puck of the ball between the teams – and if it lives up to its billing, we’ll all be in for a treat.