M&L Contracts SFC Final
Slaughtneil 1-8
Ballinderry 0-9

There's a new name on the Derry senior championship trophy.

Slaughtneil captured the title from Ballinderry’s hands in the most dramatic of finales at a white hot Celtic Park this afternoon.

A late, late Gerald Bradley goal saw the Emmet’s clinch their second ever senior football championship and deny the champions an outrageous four-in-a-row feat.

In a rare move, Francis McEldowney won the toss for Slaughtneil but opted to go against a strong breeze blowing in from the Foyle in the first period.

And it showed when, despite bossing the territory, controlling the possession and winning the midfield exchanges, the Emmet’s couldn’t make any real inroads on the scoreboard, kicking four wides and dropping three short in a 30-minute period that saw the champions waste just one shot.

And it was Ballinderry who set the tone early on in a tetchy affair.  With space at a premium, it took a long, direct ball straight into the chest of big Ryan Bell in the Shamrocks full forward line to open this decider up and, when Coilin Devlin got off his shoulder and burst straight for the goals, Peadar Kearney was left walking a tight rope early with a yellow card flashed in his face for the subsequent drag down.

Devlin opened the scoring from a free but Chrissy Bradley picked up from where he left off in the semi replay over Dungiven and jinked away from two challenges to float over and hit the equaliser.

Gilligan hit another free at the other end though before a superb outside of the boot point from Raymond Wilkinson had the loughshore men two ahead.

Wilkinson then struck with his left after Padrig Kelly kicked a dead ball and tried to better his number 10 counterpart with a sliced effort of his own to keep the deficit at a minimum.

A long range Gilligan free showed the advantage Fabian Muldoon’s men had with the breeze but Slaughtneil really should’ve been in the lead with just five minutes left of the half when a high ball broke in the area and Ronan Bradley laid in his namesake Paul and, with just three metres between him and the goal, the full forward’s instep strike sliced wide of Mickey Conlan’s top left corner.

Ballinderry reacted and, despite a black card issued for the speedy Aaron Devlin, Collie Devlin struck another free before Daniel McKinless registered with his first touch after coming on, splitting the posts from tight on the left.

The Emmet’s did rescue one last salvo before the break, Chrissy McKaigue hooking over his shoulder to leave just one score in it at half time, Ballinderry  leading 0-7 to 0-4.

Slaughtneil might’ve been clever after all with their pre-game decision to go against the breeze because they came firing out of the blocks after the restart.  Patsy Bradley picked out Chrissy Bradley on the right wing and the lightning centre forward wasted no time in driving forward and pinging dead between the posts with the outside of his boot.

Conleith Gilligan was his old reliable self though amidst the chaos of a blow-for-blow battle.  With all the pushing and shoving and clamouring for space, the Ballinderry number 13 was a constant picture of composure and he coolly slotted a curling free against the breeze to restore the three-point lead.

Meanwhile at the other end, Padrig Kelly kicked two early frees wide of the posts but he did manage to slot one from play to cut the gap to two – when they could really have been level.

And, as the physical exchanges only intensified, as each passage of play dwindled to mere seconds with referee Anthony Campbell having to intervene on any number of occasions, neither south Derry outfit let the other out of their sight.

Stern defending from the maroon jerseys withstood Ballinderry pressure midway through the second period as the Shamrocks got to grips around the middle of the park.  Time and time again, Chrissy or Karl McKaigue, Francis McEldowney or even the relentless Patsy Bradley were at hand to turn away the Ulster champs and that stubborn defensive unit paid off when Paul Bradley hit the sweet spot with a dead ball over the bar of Mickey C and reduce the arrears to one.

And, when Patsy Bradley was at hand again to hurl himself in front of another shot – this time to deny Kevin McGuckin – Slaughtneil broke, Padrig Kelly drew the free and the same boy tapped it over as Mickey Moran’s men drew level.

Gareth McKinless had enough of watching though and drove forward, won his own free, and watched as Coilin Devlin edged them ahead again.

Slaughtneil kept coming, Cormac O’Doherty pulled one wide but a moment of pure madness, magic, merriment but also controversy saw the title drastically shift to Robert Emmet’s when Chrissy Bradley struck the sweetest of sideline balls – almost Mauirce Fitzgerald-esque – but it hung in the air and, as Gerald Bradley leapt highest amidst a swarm of bodies, he fisted into the bottom left hand corner and, although Michael Conlan got there to his right, the ball was ruled across the line - to Ballinderry's dismay - and Slaughtneil had won their first championship in 10 years.

Their second ever.

Poor scenes after the game saw a number of people make their way frantically towards the officials in frustration but it didn’t detract from Slaughtneil’s glorious celebrations.

There’s a new name on the John McLaughlin Cup.  Slaughtneil are the 2014 Derry senior football and hurling champions.

Slaughtneil: Antoin McMullan; Peadar Kearney, Brendan Rodgers, Karl McKaigue; Francis McEldowney, Christopher McKaigue (0-1), Barry McGuigan; Patsy Bradley, Paudie McGuigan; Padrig Kelly (0-4, 0-2f), Christopher Bradley (0-2), Ronan Bradley; Gerald Bradley (1-0), Paul Bradley (0-1f), Padraig Cassidy
Subs: Conan Cassidy for Kearney (HT), Cormac O’Doherty for Sé McGuigan (49), Padraig Cassidy for Ronan Bradley (55)

Ballinderry: Michael Conlan; Ryan Scott, Gareth McKinless, Kevin McGuckin; Darren Lawn, Conor Nevin, Raymond Wilson; Enda Muldoon, James Conway; Raymond Wilkinson (0-2), Coilin Devlin (0-3f), Dermot McGuckin; Conleith Gilligan (0-3f), Ryan Bell, Aaron Devlin
Subs: Daniel McKinless (0-1) for Aaron Devlin (26 black card sub), Michael McIver for Lawn (46), Darren Conway for Wilkinson (59)

Referee: Anthony Campbell (Magherafelt)

Attendance: 5,132

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