ROGERS DEDICATES WIN TO CASSIDY FAMILY
By Brendan McTaggart
SLAUGHTNEIL made the perfect start at the Athletic Grounds on Sunday with Cormac O’Doherty burying a goal in the opening minutes. When Brendan Rogers matched that fete in the ninth minute, the huge Slaughtneil support would have been forgiven if they thought they were dreaming.
It was the dream start and as Rogers explained, they were focussing on those opening exchanges: “We knew we needed a good start. If we were to win today we needed to get off to a flyer and you can’t play catch up against teams of the calibre of Loughgiel. You can’t go behind against good teams.
“Sometimes it can be hard to turn that momentum if teams get a lead against you and we didn’t want that to happen here today. We worked as hard as we could to get a lead and wanted to kick on. Loughgiel came back and hit a purple patch but we just sort of weathered the storm in the second half.”
Slaughtneil’s play was notable for the aerial bombardment in the opening exchanges but it wasn’t a pre-planned tactic as Rogers added: “We didn’t really focus on that. We just wanted to get quick ball into the forward line and on our day we can mix it with the best of defenders.
“Sé (McGuigan) using them big legs of his is real effective and it worked well today. Our primary aim as forwards was to win possession and we were prepared to do that regardless of how the ball came our way.”
Rogers admitted to having a focus on reaching the Ulster Final from the start of the year and that they had learned their lessons from their two previous Final defeats: “The first loss to Loughgiel was massive for us. We thought we were good but maybe we were naive at the time. I was only 18 and got taught a harsh lesson that day.
“We thought we were good enough to nick it against Cushendall last year but that was another lesson learned in how to win tight games. Maybe you do need to lose a couple to win one but losing is something that you don’t want to do too often as it can leave mental scars.
“If you were to pick a game that we wanted to win at the start of the year it would have been the Ulster Hurling Final. We’ve been gutted for the last couple of three years and maybe a bit of inexperienced told but we had another couple of boys come in this year and freshened things up.”
With the week that was for Slaughtneil as a club and community, Sunday was a day he’ll always remember “This is an unreal feeling, to do this for Éanna and his family after Thomas passing away. That’s what makes this even more special.
“That’s what makes today a day that we won’t ever forget. A lot of boys have lost Final’s for this club, it’s been happening for a long time. I’m just fortunate to be playing in a good team that has won the last couple. We’re going to enjoy it now as it won’t last forever but we’re going to try our best to make it last.”