NEIL MCMANUS’S GOAL on the stroke of full-time felt like a match-winning score.

He had just conjured a goal from a long-range free, when all hope seemed lost for the reigning Ulster champions Cushendall. His initial effort was parried back to substitute Dominic Delargy who popped a pass over to McManus for one mighty swing.

His shot appeared to take some timber of a few hurleys along the way. But, crucially, the net was its final destination to level the contest. Rapturous applause seemed to drown out the full-time whistle. To extra-time they went.

McManus had been Slaughtneil’s tormentor all evening last weekend. When Slaughtneil were 0-13 0-7 ahead in the first half, he was the one who supplied the goal to revive their title-defence. And when the Derry champions were three points clear in the second period, he put a knife in their gut with another goal to level the contest.

The Antrim side had their number in last year’s Ulster final. And that stinger from McManus must surely have brought up unpleasant memories of the not too distant past. A momentum shifter to condemn to Slaughtneil to defeat.

For Brendan Rogers, there was a flicker of concern.

Sensational from Neil McManus. The Ulster Club SHC semi-final is heading for extra time

📺 @rte2 & @rteplayer pic.twitter.com/mFmqWLamMs

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) November 16, 2024

“Oh here we go again,” the Slaughtneil full-forward thought to himself as McManus’s shot flew into the net. He had watched the retired Antrim legend perform a similar feat in Cushendall’s Ulster semi-final last year against Portaferry to send that game to extra-time too.

But the disappointment at not winning in ordinary time soon gave way to enthusiasm. 

“I thought our players were very fit and fresh,” Rogers continues. “We just knew there was more to give. It was just one of those days where you could feel it.”

That confidence stems from a new approach to training that Slaughtneil have implemented this year. By Rogers’ count, there are up to 25 players in the hurling squad who also play football for Slaughtneil.

As a result, they train a little differently to the clubs who have a singular focus and have one dual session per week. Rogers says their model is similar to the one used in Loughmore-Castleiney, another powerful dual club in Tipperary whose footballers booked their place in the Munster final last weekend.

“It manages the training load and gives players an extra night at home. It was something Chrissy McKaigue pushed for and since he go into the GPO role, he’s trying to be more innovative in how we approach our training to get the most out of it.”

Rogers wasn’t the only one who felt Slaughtneil had the superior conditioning on Saturday. Watching on at the thriller in the Athletic Grounds was their former manager Michael McShane. He mentored the team from 2015-2023, leaving them with nine county titles in-a-row and four Ulster championships when he stepped down in December.

“Cushendall are a very strong, fit team but I felt with Slaughtneil being a dual club, the fitness levels told in extra-time,” he begins, echoing the words of Rogers.

Slaughtneil laid the foundations of their win by building up a two-point lead after the first period of extra-time. They went to score four of the five points that followed on the changeover, with Rogers hitting his seventh point of the night to earn the man of the match award. Cushendall couldn’t summon another response as Slaughtneil advanced with a four-point win.

They overwhelmed Cushendall with their sheer energy and effort. But as McShane saw it, there were other forces driving their performance.

“What’s almost as important [is] Slaughtneil were playing with the hurt of losing the last two Ulster finals. Slaughtneil won four of the previous six finals. There’s a lot of proud players in that group – the likes of Cormac O’Doherty, Meehaul McGrath, Brendan Rogers, Shea Cassidy, Shane McGuigan. Those guys were playing with hurt and it didn’t surprise me that the late goal didn’t affect them.

“They have great leaders in the group, who would have got everybody’s head in the right place and then they went back out and started all over again.”

Cormac O'Doherty after Slaughtneil's All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Ballygunner. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

Slaughtneill have something in common with their Ulster final opponents. Portaferry, the Down champions, were also stung by Cushendall in last year’s Ulster championship. They too went to the trenches of extra-time in the final after McManus rescued his side with a late goal. A familiar tale to Slaughtneil’s. Joe McLaughlin’s extra-time haul of 2-3 buried the Down challengers by 12 points at the final bell.

They have wounds they need to heal to, and will surely carry them into this week’s Ulster final.

“They’ll have matured another 12 months and that heartache like what Slaughtneil have,” says McShane who has been keeping an eye on the Down side’s progress.

“It’ll be a really good final, there’ll be very little between the teams. If Portaferry can handle the occasion, they’re going to be in with a really good shout. Confidence will be oozing through Slaughtneil, they’ve won four Ulster titles the last few years and they’ll be savagely hungry.”

This will be Slaughtneil’s ninth Ulster final since 2013, and 10th in total after reaching their first provincial decider in 2000. Four titles in the last decade is an impressive return considering that Cushendall have won three championships in the same timeframe while Dunloy [2022] and Portaferry [2014] complete the Ulster roll of honour. Loughgiel Shamrocks’ four in-a-row run was just before stretch.

McShane cautions that looking beyond claiming a fifth Ulster medal would be foolish, but he’s content that his former charges won’t fall into that trap. That being said, Slaughtneil are hungry for a breakthrough in the All-Ireland series. The semi-final stage has been their ceiling up to now.

Dublin’s Cuala slaughtered them in 2017 by 13 points. Na Piarsaigh of Limerick inflicted more heartache 2018, and with a numerical advantage too after losing two men to straight red cards. Kilkenny giants Ballyhale Shamrocks clipped them two years later, but only barely. They needed a late Colin Fennelly goal to see them home with a five-point win. Ballygunner also had little to spare [2-19 to 1-17] when they met Slaughtneil in the 2022 All-Ireland semi-final.

Aside from Na Piarsaigh, Slaughtneil were beaten by the eventual champions in those final-four battles. They must surely feel they are close to finding the access code.

“The next step is to win it and not just get to an All-Ireland final,” says McShane who adds that he would only feel joy if his old Slaughtneil comrades could achieve the ultimate glory.

“It wouldn’t be bitter in any way, it would be sweet. You don’t manage a group of players for nine years and not have a great affection for them. It was a very difficult decision for me to step away from them. But I made it for the right reasons and I told the players that. I thought maybe a change of leadership for them might be the extra few percent to help them go the whole way.”

But they have business with Portaferry first. Another shot at Ulster glory awaits.