Dominant Slaughtneil see off Ballinascreen with an 18-point victory

Slaughtneil 3-22

Ballinascreen 1-10

Slaughtneil sent out a clear and decisive message to the Derry hurling fraternity on Sunday that they are in no mood to relinquish their title.

Despite being down a number of front liners, Paul McCormack’s outfit still had far too much for a gutsy Ballinascreen as the Robert Emmett’s cruised to an 18-point victory in round one of this year’s campaign.

Despite missing Meehaul McGrath, Brian Cassidy, Ruairi Ó Mianain and the McKaigue brothers, Chrissy and Karl, Slaughtneil still had too much power for their visitors. There was also further disruption to the Slaughtneil team sheet when both Finn McEldowney and Cahal McKaigue were forced out through injury.

But when one door closes, another one opened, and the men in maroon and white formed an orderly queue for their chance.

Most notably, Jack Cassidy.

The 21-year-old midfielder literally stood head and shoulders above everyone else and fired an impressive 1-6 from play over the hour. Others to lay down a claim for a starting berth were Shea and Eamon Cassidy.

Both corner forwards ran their socks off in a display that saw them torment the Screen full back line from minute one.

With such an array of talent at their disposal, it’s hard to see the Fr Collins Cup finishing up anywhere else than Emmet Park at the season’s end.

Ballinascreen did put up a gallant fight. Reece McSorley did impress at the edge of the square while Paul Cleary and Eamon Conway also showed well.

In sunny, but blustery conditions, Ballinascreen wasted no time in settling in to the contest and pointed frees from Eamon Conway and Cormac Gough shot the visitors into an early two-point lead. But the lead was short lived as towering midfielder Jack Cassidy and one from No 11 put Slaughtneil into a lead that they would never relinquish

The Emmets added to their total through Eamon Cassidy, Sé McGuigan and Brendan Rogers and it was looking like the current champions were going to run away with the tie.

However, Ballinascreen found a way back into the contest thanks to some quick thinking from Conway.

Dean Flanagan’s surging run was brought to an abrupt halt on the edge of the Slaughtneil square. After some deliberation with his umpires, referee James Forrester awarded a 21-metre free. Conway's quickly taken short free to Reece McSorley caught the Slaughtneil defence sleeping, and the Screen full forward’s shot found the bottom corner of the Slaughtneil net.

It levelled up the contest, but all it proved to do was ignite the fire in the bellies of the Slaughtneil players.

Jack Cassidy rifled over his third of the day before Cormac O’Doherty opened his account with two-frees.

McDaid in the Screen goal was called into action twice in as many minutes to deny what looked like certain Slaughtneil goals. Both Shea and Eamon Cassidy were denied by the sharp reflexes of the Screen stopper, but it wasn’t long before Slaughtneil did find a way past McDaid.

With seven-minutes of the opening half remaining, Mark McGuigan and Eamon Cassidy combined to put Shea Cassidy in the clear and the corner forward made no mistake this time around by firing hard and low past McDaid.

Before the half was over, Slaughtneil added points from Shea and Eamon Cassidy from play while Cormac O’Doherty added two-frees to his tally, and at the break Slaughtneil held a commanding ten-point lead, 1-15 to 1-5.

The second half was a largely scrappy affair.

Both management teams took the opportunity to run their eyes over more players and this also led to the game developing a stop-start nature.

With the wind increasing, the Slaughtneil shooters started to have some difficulty finding their target, while Screen added to their total through Conway and Mac Daibhead frees.

Eventually Slaughtneil found their range again with Mark McGuigan claiming two from play before a quickly taken Cormac O’Doherty free picked out Peter McCullagh who fired past McDaid to claim Slaughtneil’s second major of the day.

However, the final words of Act one, Scene 2, were left to Jack Cassidy. After collecting an inch perfect pass and breezing past two Ballinascreen defenders, Cassidy picked out the corner of the Screen net with a rasping drive, before registering his sixth point with the last play of the game.