By Michael McMullan

THERE is an excitement in Ryan O’Neill’s voice but the words are well chosen. It’s not long before you realise why he is the Ballinderry vice-captain. A level head.

Just a year or two too young for the Shamrocks’ glory days, his first season in the squad was their 2014 senior final defeat. It was the last time they got a proper glimpse of the John McLaughlin Cup.

Ten years on, he is in the middle group, between the young guns and the likes of Ryan Bell, Darren Lawn, Daniel and Gareth McKinless.

“It’s an amazing feeling around the club,” he said.

“Training, there has been a deadly buzz around through the whole championship run.

“I would probably say it’s the best feeling I’ve had with a group before. There’s a great camaraderie amongst the players.”

It’s like they’ve been together for a decade. It’s an environment where age is only a number and the younger players are demanding high standards of those above them. It’s healthy.

Championship plans were parked until the end of the league. Game by game, they wanted to improve their recent fortunes, using 30 players in the process.

The group stage championship games came and went until their win over Banagher guaranteed top spot. Then it was Glenullin in the quarter-final, a time to fully log in.

It took a replay to get over Faughanvale in the final.

They played second fiddle for
key spells of the drawn game before controlling matters the next day
out.

When O’Neill came forward to clip over the insurance point, his fist pump and facial expression said it all. They’d one hand on the cup.

They needed new leaders in the absence of Gareth McKinless who was dismissed on two bookings.

Niall O’Donnell landed a point when it was needed. Ryan Bell fielded high balls when they were under the pump.

McKinless missed the Carrickcruppen game with Bell dismissed with 12 minutes to go.

O’Donnell’s goal was the cushion but they needed Oisin Duffin showing for kick-outs, two frees from Shea McCann and Matt Quinn’s assured use of the ball to see out the game.

Next up is Derrylaughan, over the Ballinderry River into Tyrone and 12 miles along the Loughshore.

It was Ballinderry’s Martin McKinless who managed them to their first titles in 2010.

When he returned to manage the Kevin Barrys more recently, they played the Shamrocks in challenge games.

“There was actually a joke at the time because we played them five or six times in that season, you’d played them more than you were playing anybody else in the league,” O’Neill recalls.

Sunday is different. Totally different. There is an Ulster final spot up for grabs and O’Neill references talk ranking Derrylaughan as favourites for the title.

“Going in as an underdog, it is a nice feeling because there’s no real pressure,” he said, adding how the management duo of Jarlath Bell and Davy Harte have kept any pressure of getting back to the senior grade away from the players.

“It’s been a massive year for us and everything’s a bonus from here on, so getting an Ulster final would be amazing.”

O’Neill refers to how difficult Derrylaughan are to put away. Termon and All Saints had them down but couldn’t keep them there.

He namechecks Brian Kennedy, Tomás Carney, Danny Ball and James Donnelly, one of whom you’d expect him to pick up.

“They’ve a lot of talent in their team and they’re experienced,” said O’Neill, who admits Ballinderry are planning without suspended duo Bell and Gareth McKinless. Should either or both become available, it’ll be a bonus.