Slaughtneil looking forward to Ulster final

Cormac O’Doherty was happy to get over Sunday’s “dogfight” with Portaferry and is already looking forward to a final showdown with St John’s.

The Derry champions went into last weekend’s semi-final on the back of 13 successive county titles.

The sides were level seven times in the first half before a Gerald Bradley goal broke the game late on.

“It was definitely winter hurling for a lot of spells, it was scrappy and it was a real dogfight,” O’Doherty said. “We expected nothing else and it was sort of score for score for a long time.

“Thankfully, we got the burst just in the middle of the second half, got the goal. That gave us that bit of momentum, that bit of a cushion and we held on.”

The other aspect of the game was the four points before half-time after Daithi Sands fired to the net to help open a 1-8 to 0- 8 gap.

“To reel off four in the bounce, to get in a point up at half-time, that was massive,” he added. “We knew we hadn't done ourselves justice in the first half and fair play to Portaferry for that.

“They made it very difficult for us but that wee bit of momentum coming into the second half was big and it definitely told the end.”

Slaughtneil started without injured duo Sean Cassidy and Conor Coyle, with Jack Cassidy also out of the equation with his move to the US.

There was a return for Chrissy McKaigue and O’Doherty paid tribute to the squad for Sunday’s win.

“Cathal Ó Mianáin come in there for his first Ulster start and didn't look out of place,” he said.

Slaughtneil through to eleventh Ulster hurling final

Slaughtneil secured their final place after defating Portaferry on a scoreline of 1-23 to 0-1-18

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“Eamon (Cassidy) started today, maybe first start of the Championship and really stepped up to the plate.

There was a return for Gerald Bradley but O’Doherty but the victory down to the selflessness in the camp.

“We just have players wanting to do everything for the jersey and do whatever it takes to get across the line,” he said.

“Whenever you have that team ethos, it carries you so far. At this time of year it's just about winning. A performance, you want it but if you win, performance is irrelevant.”