By Shaun Casey

WHEN the half-time whistle sounded in last year’s Ulster Club SHC final, Portaferry looked well on their way. The Down champions flew out of the traps and rattled the Sleacht Néill cages in the opening half.

At the interval, Portaferry were seven points clear and had one hand on the Four Seasons Cup. But championship medals aren’t handed out at half time and by the end of play, it was Sleacht Néill who jumped for joy and claimed the kings of Ulster crown.

Portaferry were crestfallen. A chance to end a 10-year wait for a provincial title came and went in a flash. But as any good optimist will testify, there’s always next year and already Portaferry have their eyes on going one step further.

Tom McGrattan, man of the match in the Down county final as Portaferry shook off Ballygalget on their way to three in-a-row, top scored in that Ulster final with 0-9 on the night, living up to his reputation as a deadly finisher.

“It’s been a hard enough two years in Ulster for us,” said McGrattan, looking back at the heartache of not only last year’s decider, but the 2023 semi-final which they lost to Cushendall after extra-time.

“Letting it go against Sleacht Néill after being eight points up in the second half was tough, but the only way to get over it is to get back to training. The boys are up and running already so we’ll just have another crack at it.

“I think last year we had a real belief that we could go on and win it. Against Cushendall (in 2023) we probably didn’t really believe we could win it but last year, there was definitely a different feeling around the camp.

“Now this year, our sole focus will be to get through the Down Championship and then go for an Ulster. When we got beat against Sleacht Néill, we knew we could have gone on and won it, so I think the whole club is behind us and pushing us on.”

McGrattan was a youthful onlooker the last time Portaferry tasted provincial success. As a ten-year-old, he watched as the club captured their solitary Ulster triumph and it’s only now that he understands the significance of that accomplishment.

“I would have been 10, I think I was in P7,” he recalled. “I remember bits of the game; it was out in Owenbeg, and they beat Cushendall. I don’t really remember that much about it. That was the last time we were in the Ulster final until last year.

“I don’t think I really realised the importance of that Ulster until I started playing senior hurling myself. It was only when I was 17 or 18 and it’s what the club is really pushing on to do now.”

A driving force behind Portaferry’s rise to top provincial contenders has been McGrattan’s father Gerard. He has guided the club to back-to-back county titles and an Ulster final since taking over the top job two seasons ago.

“There are strict orders when we get to the house not to speak about hurling,” laughed McGrattan on the father-son dynamic. “We just leave it at the pitch and leave it at the changing room and that’s how we keep the arguments down when we’re at the house.

“It is difficult and there have been times where we’ve maybe had a run-in or something but sure that’s the way it goes. He’s the right man for the job and he’s won two Down Championships in a row and got us close in Ulster so I can’t really complain about him.

“He took me the whole way up to u-14 and then at u-16 I kind of wanted a new management and different insights, but he’s been a massive help. I’ve been out in the park with him since he was coming to the end of his career, and I always remember that growing up.”

Gerard McGrattan is the one and only All-Star the Mourne County have ever produced in hurling. Being the son of someone of such legendary status doesn’t have a major impact on the 20-year-old, however. Tom is keen to mark out his own footprints.

“When I was younger, I would have looked into those sort of things more and people would have been saying stuff about that . When you get older, you realise that it’s not really the be all and end all. I don’t really look at that anymore, I just focus on myself.”

When the call came for McGrattan to line out in the county jersey, the answer was a quick one. A definite yes. After speaking to Down boss Ronan Sheehan, and a quick conversation with his father, McGrattan decided to give his lot with the county hurlers.

Sheehan has overseen a dramatic rise in Down’s fortunes in recent years and they are within touching distance of a place in Division One. Getting the Mourne men up to that level would be a huge achievement.

“He’s been massive not only in Down’s growth but in mine as well,” McGrattan said of Sheehan’s influence. “I remember him ringing me when I was just 17 or 18 and asking me to come onto the senior panel and he has so much respect from us.

“He talked to me on the phone and then I talked to my dad, and it was an easy choice to go and play under him. He’s had a real influence on me.

“He’s been here a number of years, and he’s got us competing at a high level and we’re really going to try and push on and get to Division 1B for him, it would be great to do it for him.”

McGrattan carried his club form into the inter-county scene, and he has been exceptional in the red and black during the early stages of the league.

Down have won three games from three outings to sit at the top of the Division Two table. In those three encounters against Kildare, Derry and Donegal, McGrattan has registered an eye-catching 0-27, and is Down’s top scorer so far in the league. His scoring power means the Mourne men are well on course to achieve promotion.

“We’re three out of three and we’re going well. We’re scoring well in games, and I don’t think we’ve even had our full team out yet but it’s a good start and hopefully we can keep it going for the next couple of weeks.

“This year there’s a real target to try and get up to Division 1B. We have the team that can compete with the likes of Carlow and the rest of those 1B teams, so I think our main aim is to get there and play the big teams week in and week out.

“It would be massive; I can’t even remember the last time Down were in Division One and playing against those big teams so it would be massive for us if we could do it and I think we’re all rooting for it this year.

“We’ve made a good start, so we just want to keep pushing on. We have Meath and Tyrone next and then we’re away to Kerry at the end of the league so that’ll probably turn out to be a big game.

“If we win that game there’s a chance we’ll go up, but we don’t take any teams lightly. We’ve had many battles with Meath and with I’ve never actually played Tyrone unless in friendlies, so we just need to train hard and hopefully get the right results.”