Jack Cassidy hails the Sleacht Néill grit after another climb to Ulster’s summit

JACK Cassidy offered three words as how Sleacht Néill dug themselves from Portaferry’s pocket to the sheer joy of the club’s fifth Ulster hurling title.

Eight points down, they needed goals from Sé McGuigan and Shéa Cassidy to pull themselves back from the jaws of defeat.

Towering midfielder Cassidy digs deeper. Still waiting on the victory to fully sink in, he chooses grit, determination and fight for keeping them from tipping over the edge.

“We didn’t play for 40 minutes and that’s obviously something we have to look at,” he added.

Like his manager Paul McCormack, he puts a lot of that at Portaferry’s door. Cassidy felt they were first to every ball and the hungriest team.

He also paid tribute to how his own team turned the corner. Of the 15 first-half battles, they lost all 15. It was different after half-time.

“I think we came out on top in a hell of a lot more of them,” he said.

In the first half, he felt they were dazed as Portaferry shot whizzed over the bar. By contrast, Sleacht Néill’s accuracy against Cushendall had deserted them.

“I think we had 10 missed chances in the first half,” Cassidy said.

“Everything they had seemed to be going over and we were missing.

“We weren’t getting enough tackles on; we weren’t working hard enough for each other but we turned that around in the second half.”

He nailed an insurance point, his third of the game, to put the Emmet’s two ahead but Cassidy – like everyone in the midst of the celebrations – highlighted their two goals. They changed everything.

There is a smile as Cassidy steps away from the customary family photos to offer his assessment.

As one of the younger players, he looked on as Sleacht Néill dominated all three codes for the best part of a decade.

Then the supporter, he is now on the other side. He is signing autographs now. Elder club members are patting him on the back. It’s his time now.

“It’s an unbelievable joy and feeling of pride to be wearing this jersey and winning on the big days,” he said of the infamous maroon and white hooped jersey with ‘T Mackle’ etched across it.

The family business. The Cassidy clan have put their hands in their pockets to back the club in the same way they put their shoulder of the wheel when underage teams needed guidance.

“I watched Sleacht Néill win three Ulster titles, I watched Sleacht Néill lose Ulster titles,” he beamed with a deep pride.

“I’ve now won my second, lost two myself. To be able to represent this jersey, day in day out, for the people here today to support us, the people gone before us and the people that will wear it in the future, it’s an unbelievable feeling of pride.”

Aside from five Ulster titles, their incredible run of 12 successive titles takes Sleacht Néill joint with Lavey in second place on the Derry roll of honour with 18 championship wins.

It didn’t just happen on Saturday, the year before that or the year before that. It’s an incessant level of coaching to turn them from also rans to the bench mark in Derry.

“It is a combination of a lot of hard work done by a lot of people in the past,” Cassidy said.

“That work is ongoing. It’s ongoing underage at the minute and we’ve six under-22’s in that team there.

“We’ve a couple of older hands. Well, they’re still only 30 odd years of age and there’s still plenty of hurling left in these boys

“I have a feeling that we’re going to be competing in Ulster for a long time.

“We don’t dwell on it; we don’t take it for granted. We’re proud of every single Ulster title we’ve won and we’re damn proud of this one today after the battle we’ve been through.”

Sunday’s win sets up an All-Ireland semi-final with Munster champions Sarsfields who knocked out All-Ireland favourites Ballygunner on Sunday.

Cassidy is excited by what to come but is realistic. They’d need a deeper dig into the well.

“We’ve Sarsfields is two weeks,” he concluded. “We’ll enjoy this one tonight. Bring it on in two weeks because there’s a hell of a lot of improving to do.

“We hope to showcase it in the biggest stage, an All-Ireland semi-final. I can’t wait.”

Check out the latest Gaelic Lives podcast for a look back at a dramatic win for Sleacht Néill, all the rest of the weekend’s Ulster stories and a preview of Friday’s Mageean Cup final.