Slaughtneil's strong display blunts 'Screen

Derry Senior Football Championship semi-final | Slaughtneil 0-6 Ballinascreen 0-3 Cahair O’Kane Reports from Owenbeg

THIS week was supposed to be the end of Slaughtneil, the end of Ballinderry, the end of Coleraine, the end of Bellaghy. So they said. The Emmet’s have no intentions of relinquishing their crown. Just as on the occasion of their defence in 2005, they are back in the last four after a win over Ballinascreen that was far more comprehensive than the scoreline suggests. Slaughtneil will now meet Bellaghy for a place in the final, with Ballinderry taking on Coleraine, just as in last year’s penultimate tie. The Gods seem to have pulled Ballinderry and Slaughtneil apart to repeat last year’s decider. The reigning holders were on top of this game barring in the first ten minutes. It started brightly for ‘Screen but by the time half-time came, they were glad of the whistle to get in and regroup. Their attacking had gone from very lively to overly ad-hoc. Early on they had Benny Heron at full-forward and he showed well. He kicked their first score brilliantly off his right foot. There was no hesitation in swivelling on to it as Brendan Rogers stood on his inside, expecting him to naturally turn on to the left. But it wasn’t long until they had brought him out around the middle and, as much as he continued to win ball, it seemed to suck the life from the Ballinascreen attacking game. Brendan Herron went inside with Barry Grant some 11 minutes in and from there on, ‘Screen failed to really trouble the Slaughtneil defence. On one occasion that Grant won the ball well and threw a dummy, Paul McNeill pounced upon his right foot like a young Tony Scullion, producing what will probably go down as the block of the season. The game was changing tactically all the time. Initially it started with Ronan Devlin as the free man for ‘Screen and that allowed Chrissy McKaigue to sit free for the Emmet’s, but there were periods of the half when he was picking up Brendan Herron as well. Slaughtneil were visibly determined to plough through whatever tiredness was in the legs. They were the better side in the opening 30 minutes and deserved their 0-4 to 0-2 interval lead. Both ‘Screen’s scores came inside the first 9 minutes, with Carlus McWilliams landing a free after Benny Heron’s right-footed effort. That put the Straw men two points up but Slaughtneil got to grips with so much of what they did from there on. There was particular focus on JP McConnell’s kickouts. Padraig Cassidy nearly raised the roof of the stand when he tracked a 60-metre Ronan Devlin run to the wing, turning the ball over after Devlin won it. It led to a scoreable free, though Paul Bradley sliced it wide. Christopher Bradley got Slaughtneil off the mark after 10 minutes. ‘Screen looked to have the move bottled up but two of their defenders stopped to appeal for a touch on the ground rather than pressing the final pass, allowing Bradley to score. Two Paul Bradley scores, one of them from a free, and a well-worked and finished Ronan Bradley effort in the run up to half-time gave the Emmet’s their two-point advantage. Padraig Cassidy had enjoyed a brilliant first half at midfield, which he didn’t fall far short of in the second. Barry McGuigan also had a brilliant first period. All over, though, Slaughtneil were better. They were sharper, hungrier, more decisive. And, just as with last year’s game, the lead meant that they could play it on their terms. Twice in the second half they put together attacking moves in which the number of passes bypassed the 30 mark. It was composure on a grand scale. ‘Screen had their complaints about referee Cyril Hargan. They had justification in some of them, but Slaughtneil could have had just as many. It was a very poor display from the man in the middle, one where he seemed to be constantly 40 yards from the play. And Ballinascreen couldn’t go too heavily on the complaints when they scored just one point in the final 57 minutes of playing time, added time included. Shane Mulgrew’s free brought them to within a kick at 0-6 to 0-3 after Padrig Kelly and Francis McEldowney had scored for the Emmet’s, but they never looked like getting any closer. ‘Screen pushed Benny Heron in again for the start of the second half and he stayed there for almost the entirety, but they simply couldn’t get the ball his length. It wasn’t through any sweeper, but rather a manic hunger and intensity in the Slaughtneil tackling around the middle third. Every maroon shirt that thought he had a yard of space was tigerishly sucked into a tackle straight away. The fact that Slaughtneil constructed long hand-passing moves would give evidence to a lack of similar intensity from ‘Screen. But Slaughtneil made them chase the ball and were quite content just to keep it for a lot of the second half, safe in the knowledge that they looked sound at the back. Heron did get one chance, where he showed superhuman strength to get in along the endline. He looked to have been fouled but still got his shot away, only for the quickly advanced Antoin McMullan to get behind it. That was with ten minutes to go, and from there until the end, the losers’ only real attack was a 45’ that they dropped into the square. Patsy Bradley took it and as he came down, an incident involving Anton Kelly – who had done reasonably well after coming on – being sent off on a straight red card. He joined Philip Bradley, who had not long before picked up his second booking in the space of a couple of minutes. There were yellows for Carlus McWilliams and half-time sub Mickey McBride as the frustration crept in. Their championship challenge finished sooner than some thought it would. As did Lavey’s. As did Loup’s. As did Kilrea’s. The more things change… MATCH STATS Slaughtneil scorers: Paul Bradley 0-2f, Ronan Bradley 0-1, Christopher Bradley 0-1, Padrig Kelly 0-1, Francis McEldowney 0-1 Ballinascreen scorers: Carlus McWilliams 0-1, Benny Heron 0-1f, Shane Mulgrew 0-1f SLAUGHTNEIL: Antoin McMullan; Francis McEldowney, Brendan Rogers, Karl McKaigue; Paul McNeill, Chrissy McKaigue, Barry McGuigan; Patsy Bradley, Padraig Cassidy; Padrig Kelly, Paul Bradley, Ronan Bradley; Christopher Bradley, Sé McGuigan, Cormac O’Doherty Subs: Shane McGuigan for O’Doherty (56), Meehaul McGrath for McEldowney (59) BALLINASCREEN: JP McConnell; Philip McGlade, Dermot McBride, Mickey McShane; John Scullion, Carlus McWilliams, Philip Bradley; Brendan Herron, Sean Woods; Kieran Conway, Shane Mulgrew, Paul Burns; Ronan Devlin, Benny Heron, Barry Grant Subs: Mickey McBride for R Devlin (HT), Eamon Murray for Grant (39), Anton Kelly for Burns (44), Dermot Scullion for Woods (48), Emmett McKillion for J Scullion (54) Referee: Cyril Hargan (Ardmore)