Next man up as Sleacht Néill deal with injury list

By Michael McMullan

SLEACHT Néill manager Austin O’Malley says the mantra has been ‘next man up’ as they continue to deal with injuries within the camp.

The Emmet’s take on Ballinderry on Sunday at Find Insurance Owenbeg with a spot in the semi-finals up for grabs.

After their league success, a series of injuries hit the camp. Ruairí Ó Mianáin sustained a serious knee injury that will rule him out for the season.

Fionn McEldowney (knee) and Eamon Cassidy (shoulder) also picked up injuries while Cahal McKague was also forced off in the recent hurling final win over Kevin Lynch’s.

O’Malley, who managed Cuala to All-Ireland glory, says dealing with injuries comes down to the level of maturity in the squad.

“We had a really good league and we got a lot of minutes into guys,” he said. “There was always a priority coming in, to build a bit more bench strength and bench depth.

“II thought we’d done that in terms of what we got into guys during the league when obviously when you had inter-county hurlers and inter-county footballers away.”

It has served them well and O’Malley added how it has added to the level of competition within the group at training.

Speaking after the hurling final, Paul McCormack confirmed Fionn McEldowney and Eamon Cassidy don’t require surgery. Not it’s about recovery.

“They’re all in rehab and they’re on the way back, so hopefully we’ll see maybe one or two of them before the year is out,” O’Malley added.

“It’s just about being mature and understanding these things are going to happen. It’s next man up and I’ve always said.

“Once you have 15, 21 or 30 guys that will fill a jersey, the game isn’t well complicated. If you bring all of yourself to it, anything can happen.”

Sleacht Néill last lifted the John McLaughlin Cup in 2020. The last time they failed to make the semi-final was 2018, when they lost a quarter-final replay at the hands of Eoghan Rua as they chased a fifth successive title.

They were in a position of strength in this year’s opener against Magherafelt before Johnny McErlain turned the tie with a goal.

Wins over Banagher and Glenullin have helped them back on track, leaving them facing off with the Shamrocks this Sunday.

Growth

“I’m always saying the game will give you those things in terms of there are great growth opportunities and their growth points within the game,” O’Malley said, when asked how much they looked into the final quarter against Magherafelt.

“You really have to look at those and we learned a lot from that, in terms of our own breaking ball and our structure on our own kick out as well.

“We showed a lot of composure and control in that game up to maybe 49, 50 minutes.”

O’Malley spoke of a chance to go four points up only to hit the post before being hit for the goal that changed the momentum of the game.

“The word I keep using is mature, to understand that these things will happen in games and how you can use them to your advantage to learn and grow,” he added.

“That’s the same with today (last weekend’s win over Glenullin) in terms of when we sit down and look at this again, what we need to go after to tidy up.

“It’s a constant evolution, that’s what the game is about, grow, learn, perform and then recycle again.”