A MIX  of feelings existed in the  Sleacht Néill  footballers at the start of the 2020 season.

For the footballers, it had been two years since they had last won the Derry Senior Championship. The 2018 campaign was heartbreaking for the club. It was their opportunity to win five in-a-row of Derry titles, an achievement that had never been realised in the history of senior football in the county.

Coleraine put paid to that when they captured the title that season, beating the Robert Emmet’s on the way.

Then in 2019 Sleacht Néill’s hopes of bouncing back were ruined when they came up against a Glen team who knocked them out.

So at the start of 2020, there was a mix of pressure and indignation. Some players felt that their attitude had to change. Other’s felt that they desperately needed to make sure they won the championship and others, like Chrissy McKaigue, felt that the county had written Sleacht Néill off unfairly.

“A lot of questions had been asked of us in the previous two years. We had set the standards high before that. Sport can be fickle. It was very quickly forgotten about that, as a group, we had won four Derry Senior football titles in-a-row. We won three Ulster Football titles in four years and we contested two All-Ireland Club finals. It wasn’t a bad innings. But in some quarters we were being written off.”

McKaigue added further weight to the argument that in those two years when they missed out, he and his teammates weren’t far away.

“The two years prior we weren’t at the standard. But we won the league relatively comfortably in those seasons. I think we only lost once.

“We lost to Coleraine two years ago, and last year Glen beat us. The hurt to the group was massive and it did drive us to new levels. There was a real motivation to get the championship back.

“We had won four in-a-row, only one other team in Derry has ever did that, Bellaghy. The hurt of not getting the five in-a-row was difficult to take. Then for one reason or another we couldn’t reach the heights. There was a hunger to get back to winning.

“We were extremely hurt and all that energy went back into trying to win it back.”

Yet while Sleacht Néill had been successful for four years in-a-row, McKaigue pointed out that it took a strength of mind to fight back.

“People talk about the success that Sleacht Néill has had but we have had tough times. We have lost plenty of games in hurling and football, in All-Ireland finals. But we have tight cohesion that we have had in the group. There is a serious strength of character in that group. That is not opinion, that is fact.”

Shane McGuigan, the Sleacht Néill forward, explained his attitude during the two years when they missed out.

“You think about how long it is going to be. You think about the good teams that have gone past without winning championships. Ballinderry, no harm to them, but would they think they would be waiting this long for another championship?

“We didn’t want to make it three years and then four years and then players might start dropping off.”

Changes were made for the 2020 season that would be crucial. Paul Bradley took over management and he brought in Gavin Devlin in as an assistant. Devlin is famous for being part of Mickey Harte’s  All-Ireland winning team in 2003, but also as an assistant to Harte when he was Tyrone manager.

Bradley’s appointment brought an interesting dynamic.

McKaigue said: “It was a difficult one for Paul because he had played along with us for so long.  He had won five championships, and now he managed one. His legacy is as good as anyone’s. He really gelled well with Gavin. Paul could stand back, and he also knew the players. He was the enforcer and the main man. He brought a serious discipline and he was able to get the best out of players. He is a challenging manager. He gets the best out of players. As well as that his team selections were great. We are glad he is back this year.”

McGuigan said: “We knew his character and his football brain. We knew what way he would want to play from the way he played as a player.

“He is young but his ability as a manger is brilliant. When I came into the senior team Paul was one of the most experienced players. I came in nearly idolising him. He was on the team that won the first championship. He talked about scenarios and really helped the younger players.

“But Paul was also humble enough to know that he needed someone else, and he brought in Gavin.”

Chrissy McKaigue said that the addition of Devlin was important because it indicated how serious the club were taking the campaign.

McKaigue said: “This year we got a real lift. Gavin Devlin would be a fairly big name to get. He fitted into the group like a hand in glove and made a big impression.

“Gavin is a very energetic character, and he is very modern in his thinking. He added a tactical nous to our game. Our game expanded in that we became more of a kicking team where as previous we would have been more possession orientated.

“Even the fact that he was coming, Mickey Harte’s right-hand man, who is one of the top coaches in the country gave us a lift. When he came I was hugely impressed.  We are happy to have him secured for this year too.”

Shane McGuigan remembers the first team meeting the group had as focusing the players minds.

“It really set the tone of where both of them felt that we should be. Gavin challenged each and every one of us. For me he worked on my defensive skills, but also my attacking skills. He focused on getting me to work on both sides. He did that with everyone. He also worked on the structure in our attack.

“Gavin pointed out that maybe we didn’t penetrate enough in our attacks. He has brought teams to an All-Ireland final. He brought us to another level in terms of how we were thinking.”

McKaigue was relatively injury free last year which was important for him. The previous few years he had battled with hamstring injuries.

“I was really motivated by the coaching of Gavin Devlin, I was happy with Paul Bradley, Padraig Kelly and Seamus Bradley on the management team. They helped me to have a good year. But you could go through most of our players last year and it looked like they were at their best.”

The challenge of Covid, and how they handled training in lockdown, was also important.

Shane McGuigan, one of Sleacht Néill’s key forwards, said they had to remain focused.

“Our preparations stood to us down the line. We had a lot of time on our hands, Paul and Gavin were sending us running to do. We couldn’t do pitch work because they were closed. But they did a lot of things to keep the hope alive. They kept the belief that we would play championship football. They did a lot of good work that stood to us.”

The championship saw Sleacht Néill come up against difficult opponents yet they were able to see off all challengers.

They met Glen in the quarter-finals of the championship.

There was a remarkable move in the lead up to that match.

Shane McGuigan explained: “The big thing for that game was we dropped Francis McEldowney for that game so that we could do a more man-marking job. Paul adopted the Mickey Moran mantra of horses for course on that call. Some people are better suited. That was a massive call. Francis has played for Derry and has been one of our stand out performers. You have to set up different for Glen. They come at you with pace from the half-back line so we needed to make sure where to set up our defensive line.”

It was a big call for Paul Bradley to make because he was a team mate of Francis (‘Frank’) McEldowney’s for so many years.

McGuigan said: “’Frank’ and Paul came up together in underage. ‘Frank’, when he was told he just saw it as a decision about the team. He said himself it took him by surprise, but he said himself that if this is what the managers think is best for Sleacht Néill then I will be happy with it.

“Paul assured Frank that he would get game time and he needed to be ready. The way he dealt with the situation was fantastic. If anyone saw the way he dealt with being dropped they would take a leaf out of his book.”

The Glen game was a crucial game for many reasons. Glen are Sleacht Néill’s neighbours and rivals, and an outfit who have enjoyed such success at underage level that there is a feeling that they are close to a senior title. But the game also had the storyline of the previous year when Glen knocked Sleacht Néill out of the championship.

McGuigan said: “The big game for us was Glen. People see us and Glen and Magherafelt as the big teams. We missed a lot of chances in the first half, goal chances. That would have put us further ahead. Glen came out in the second half and hit us with four points in-a-row. We were trailing by four points in the second half. Then we really stood up after the water break. We had some phenomenal performances that day. The likes of Keelan Feeney, Brian Cassidy, Cormac O’Doherty. They all stood up. That Glen game was the stand-out performance for the team that year.”

Last year Sleacht Neill met Ballinderry in the semi-finals. A team who the Emmet’s have had plenty of battles with down the years. The Shamrocks are not the force that they once were, but Niall Conway was able to draw big performances and they reached the last four. But Sleacht Néill were fit for them and won by 3-15 to 1-5.

McKaigue said: “The Ballinderry result was an anomaly. You would very rarely get across the line against Ballinderry with that margin of victory.”

The win over Ballinderry set up a final against Magherafelt, the defending champions.

The challenge that Magherafelt presented was one of a defensive conundrum.

McGuigan said: “People don’t like their style of play, but they have a fantastic system, and you have to take your hats off to them, it won them a championship.”

Again, Paul Bradley’s understanding of their opponents came to the fore.

McGuigan said: “The way Magherafelt play we knew we couldn’t commit a lot of players to the attack in the way we did against Glen. His football brain is as good as I have been working with. He is up there with the best.

“We knew that they are a counter-attacking team who set up defensively, and they try to hit you on the break. We had to go back to more controlled football, like what we had played with Mickey. We couldn’t commit as many to the attack as we did against Glen. That showed the attacking awareness that Paul had.”

Shane McGuigan said that Chrissy McKaigue had a huge performance in the final as his few points gave Sleacht Néill the upper hand. However, McGuigan singled out another player for praise.

“I am going to give my mate Conor McAllister a shout out. There was a big moment in the first half where he scored a mark. That was something that Paul and Gavin had drilled into us. They said that every player had to be able to take a score. Everyone from corner-back to corner-forward. I think there were six points from defence. That really stood to us. When your defence is hitting five or six points against Magherafelt, that just shows you how important a scoring defence is.”

Winning in 2020 brought a distinct feeling for Shane McGuigan.

“We felt added pressure this year. For me It wasn’t joy, it was more relief that we did it again and we proved to people that we are not going away for a while yet.

“In the seconds and moments after the final whistle you realise that we are where we think we should  be. In the previous years we just didn’t deserve it. We were beaten and rightfully so. People might have said that this Sleacht Néill team is done, but we proved that we are not.”

The lesson that Chrissy McKaigue took was that the 2020 campaign laid down a marker, that Sleacht Néill have not gone away.

McKaigue said: “We went out and beat Magherafelt, the reigning champions. And we also beat Glen in the quarter-final, who had beat usthe year before. I wouldn’t say one game stood out, but being able to say that we beat those teams showed that we did it the hard way and the right way. It leaves everyone in no doubt that we deserved it.”

The potential is great, and both McGuigan and McKaigue believe that Sleacht Néill have great talent. They also agree that the Derry championship needs their full attention.

McKaigue said: “If you look at the age profile of this team, in hurling and football, and it is very young. But there are no guarantees in sport. The Derry Championship is very competitive, and it has been proven that it is very hard to get out of. I’ve always found it hard to navigate your way through the championship because there are so many rivalries.

“The thing for us is to stay grounded and try to get better. There is Lavey who are coming. Glen are strong as are Magherafelt. Bellaghy are coming again with their underage. There is so much competition within Derry. For us we are grounded and on our toes, and we have to be ready.”