By Éanna Mackey

LAST Sunday the Slaughtneil senior hurlers came up just short against Cork champions Sarsfields to bow out of the All-Ireland club championship at the semi-final stage.

The final result was a one-point loss despite what looked to be a certain goal just seconds before the end, as Mark McGuigan blasted his effort over. For anyone present in St. Conleth’s Park, the utter devastation and dejection at the final whistle were even more permeable than Sarsfield’s jubilation with the smallest of winning margins.

Here we had a team from a tier three county inconsolable with the narrowest of losses to the champions hailing from the county of the all-Ireland runners-up.

It was a similar feeling in the Derry dressing room beneath the Cusack stand in Croke Park in June of this year. For the second year in a row, the Derrymen had come up just short of walking up the Hogan stand steps in their quest for their first-ever Christy Ring Cup, losing out narrowly to Meath in 2023 and Kildare last summer.

Following his side’s loss to Kildare, manager a visibly gutted Johnny McGarvey spoke about his disappointment with not getting the job done.

“Overall I think it’s been a reasonable season but we wanted to win here today and get promoted. We won the league but we also expected to. Next year is very simple, we need to get back here and get Derry over the line, we need to be playing and that higher level.”

“We need to be playing the likes of Down, Kildare, and the Meath to progress and push on. There is no other way about it. For us, that is absolutely vital.

That expectancy to play at the highest level, to win All-Irelands, to compete with confidence instead of hope is something that has been felt when it comes to Gaelic football in the Oakleaf county, but not when it comes to hurling.

Yet despite coming up short last weekend, Slaughtneil haven’t read that script and with a new crop of young stars coming into the fold it all points to a very bright future for the Derry Kingpins and to the broader development of Derry hurling overall.

Central to this year’s Ulster club success were the likes of tenacious cornerback Fionn McEldowney, the towering figure of Jack Cassidy in midfield as well as now well-established intercounty star Ruairí Ó Mianáin.

Ó Mianáin came into McGarvey’s set-up this year on the back of a stellar under-20 B All-Ireland success in 2023 scoring 1-5 from play in the final against Roscommon. He has seen the rapid progress in a few short years within the county.

“You have to accept to a degree that hurling is going to play second fiddle in Derry, so instead of going against that, you have to work with what you have.

The team that won the under-20 was probably the first time in a long time in Derry that the best hurlers in that year were hurlers. They’re not footballers who play hurling.

Lavey man McGarvey took over a team in disarray in 2023 and has instilled much-needed stability and organisation in the set-up. That structure is something that Ó Mianáin believes can provide a platform for emerging talent.

From what I hear it’s the first time in a long time that Derry has had those structures in place. As a young lad coming in it’s very, very enjoyable. Hopefully, in the next 10 or 15 years we can push on and take another step.”

They say it’s the first time in a long time that there’s a level of professionalism coming into Derry hurling. There’s a management team in place, there’s an S&C coach, there are proper training sessions, and boys are committing to it properly.

2024 has been a huge year for Derry hurling with the county building steady momentum heading into the New Year. Adding to the foundations in place is a first Ulster minor championship in twenty-three years as well as an all-Derry Leonard schools cup final, it bodes well for the future.

It will be a case of one step at a time for the Oakleafers but they appear to be on a steady upward curve with eyes fixed firmly on progress.

“We want to win the Christy Ring Cup, that’s not being cocky or arrogant, it’s just what our long-term goal is and we think we’re good enough to win it,” said Ó Mianáin. “We want to be playing at the highest level possible which is right now probably to be competing against the likes of Carlow and Laois and those counties.

“You saw how Carlow managed to develop and become a county that now has a very, very good hurling team that plays against the best, At the minute we’re sort of a level below where they are but to get there that would be massive for us.”