By Michael McMullan

WHILE Sleacht Néill manager Paul McCormack felt his side needed a goal to pull themselves back into Sunday’s Ulster final, he believed they had the tools to do so.

Looking on as Sé McGuigan hit the first goal before Shéa Cassidy added the second – to leave them just two points adrift – McCormack was convinced his charges would come through.

The fact that it took 54 minutes before they led for the first time said it all about how they played second fiddle to Portaferry.

McCormack admitted his side were “below par” but that was because of what Portaferry brought.

“They had a huge energy and a huge hunger and I was expecting that,” he said.

It was like what Sleacht Néill looked like in the early stages against Cushendall. When Portaferry got going, McCormack said his side didn’t cope as they had hoped.

“The fellas weren’t really right until Friday night there after the heroics of the Cushendall match,” McCormick said of how it took nearly two weeks to mentally come to terms with their rollercoaster of a semi-final.

“That emotion and that pouring of relief and satisfaction, that spilled into probably the Monday and Tuesday of the week,” he said of the first week of Ulster final preparations.

Not counting challenge games, the club’s dual players were in championship action on 14 of the 18 weekends.

McCormack, along with former football manager Mark Doran, oversaw a dual training session approach this season under conditioning coach Aaron Kyles. The plan has been tailored to a game every week.

“Those men are just conditioned for training and getting ready for a match,” said 2002 All-Ireland winner McCormack, a former dual player during his own career.

He had warned the Sleacht Néill players that they’d not fully know how ready they’d be until referee Colum Cunning threw in the sliotar on Sunday.

They weren’t. Matt Conlan had the ball over the bar within seven seconds as Portaferry went 0-13 to 0-6 ahead by half time and had a certain goal repelled by Oisin O’Doherty.

“I probably did think we weren’t just ourselves but there’s always hope there,” he said.

“I just knew we’d get to half time, get them composed, settled down and get back up to the gears.”

The second half was about putting their best foot forward. The first half simply wasn’t good enough but McCormack felt a goal was a possibility and would change the dynamic of Sunday’s final.

“I did feel we’d need a goal and I did feel we’d get a goal,” he admitted.

“The (Sé McGuigan) goal was a massive score and to follow up with the second one, I just knew we’d not lose the match.”

It was the switch McCormack predicted. It brought momentum and the experience within the group responded.

All of a sudden, they’d a better touch to their play. A better range of movement opened the avenues to use the ball.

“A lot of the boys were below par until the last 15, then they stepped up and smelt blood and away they went,” McCormack said.

Then came another blow with Portaferry’s goal putting them two points up again. For McCormack, it was a different scenario. His team were on top.

“I still thought the momentum was with us,” said. “There was no panic. I just thought, no, we’ll see this out.”

One of the key points to the Sleacht Néill success story over the last decade has been blooding new players.

This time last year, Conor Coyle was part of the panel as sub goalkeeper but has made a name at centre-back.

Picking out Cormac O’Doherty with a pass was the catalyst to Shéa Cassidy’s goal to turn Sunday’s final on its head.

“Conor Coyle’s a special lad,” McCormack said, pointing out how early in the season he saw his potential.

“I felt this man, he was capable of something special. The way he conducts himself, he’s smart, he’s unassuming, he puts in the work, he’s an unbelievable strike of a ball…apparently, he’s good at a lot of things.”

McCormack recalled shooting the breeze with some of the club’s underage coaches and they were taken aback at the thought of Coyle being lined up for a central role.

“This is way before the championship started. I said, you watch this kid, like, he is something special and he’s only 19, he’s only learning the game,” McCormack said.

“He’s got belief now and he’s got some examples in that dressing room and that’s helping him so much.

“He’s just soaking it all up there. The challenge is to do it again, but I think he’s capable of that.”

Sleacht Néill scored the last five points of the game, with Ruairi Ó Mianáin, Brendan Rogers and Jack Cassidy all on target. The switch the goals flicked had made all the difference. The pieces began to fall into place. Between Sleacht Néill’s quality and Portaferry’s “rocky spell” the game changed for the final time.

“We smelt blood and there’s no way they were going to stop,” McCormack summed up.

It was a fifth Ulster title in a decade. Some of the players were involved in all five with others picking up their first medal.

“It just shows you how much they really wanted it, no matter what they’ve won in the past,” the Sleacht Néill boss concluded.

“I could see that and feel that throughout the year. They’re ambitious and they’re not going to stop now.”