Portaferry Confident Ahead of Ulster Final Against Favored Slaughtneil

Last year, Niall Milligan’s two goals initially appeared to guide Portaferry past Cushendall in the Ulster Club semi-final, but the Glens men ultimately prevailed after forcing and dominating extra-time, securing a 4-28 to 3-19 victory. Following Slaughtneil’s recent defeat of Cushendall in the Ulster Club Hurling semi-final, the Derry team enters Sunday’s provincial final at the Athletic Grounds as the anticipated favorites. However, their opponents, Portaferry, express confidence as they approach the championship decider. The Down champions, Portaferry, also seemed poised to overcome Cushendall in last year’s Ulster semi-final, holding a five-point lead late in the match and a three-point advantage deep into injury-time. Nevertheless, Neil McManus’s dramatic free found the net, sending the game into extra-time, where Joe McLaughlin’s two goals and another major from Alex Delargy sealed a 4-28 to 3-19 win for Dall. Portaferry captain Matt Conlan reflected on that dramatic semi-final from the previous year, stating, “I thought we had won. But the Cushendall team has shown game after game, that they are never done. There’s nothing we can do about last year. We just have to learn from our mistakes and try and correct them this year.” Portaferry’s performance in the 2022 semi-final against Slaughtneil offers little encouragement, as the Derry side achieved a decisive 2-24 to 0-11 triumph. Regarding that previous encounter, a team member commented, “Slaughtneil gave us a bit of hammering in Corrigan so we’re well aware of how good a team they are.” Gerard McGrattan, the manager of Portaferry, holds the distinction of being the sole individual from Down to have received a hurling All-Star award. Portaferry may receive a boost from the potential return of 17-year-old forward Cahal Coleman, whose exceptional skill with a caman gained national recognition a decade ago through his freestyle hurling tricks. Coleman had been sidelined due to a dislocated elbow, missing Portaferry’s county final win over Ballygalget on 20 October, which secured their three-in-a-row with a score of 3-21 to 2-14. He resumed training a couple of weeks prior. In the Down final, Tom McGrattan was named man of the match, contributing 1-12, including 1-4 from open play, while Daithi Sands also scored 1-5. Portaferry manager Gerard McGrattan, who earned his All-Star in 1992 as the only Down hurler to do so, emphasized his team’s need for belief in their ability to secure only a second Ulster title. The club’s last victory in the competition occurred 10 years ago, marking the most recent occasion a team from the Mourne County lifted the Four Seasons Cup. The Portaferry boss added, “The expectation is now there. We’ve done three in a row in Down. It’s now about progressing to the next stage.” He continued, “Winning the county titles are great but winning the Ulster stage is where you start considering yourself as being a great team. We want to compete at that level and stay at that level. I think the group of players have that belief now after last year.” However, McGrattan is acutely aware of Slaughtneil’s strong track record, as they aim for their first provincial title since 2021. That win was their fourth in six years, effectively four out of five, considering the competition was not held in 2020 due to the initial year of the Covid-19 pandemic. McGrattan further remarked, “When Cushendall beat us last year, Slaughtneil were probably still favourite to win the final because they had been the dominant team over the previous few years.” The five-week suspension of the Strangford Ferry, from early October until the previous week, for maintenance work, presented logistical challenges for McGrattan and his squad in finding suitable training pitches. Their usual autumn and winter facility, the Red High in Downpatrick, was unavailable. Captain Conlan informed BBC Sport NI, “We do have lights, a gym and a good ball alley down in our place so we try and utilise that as much as we can.” He also noted, “We also tried to find pitches up in Belfast where a lot of boys are working, so just somewhere that’s easy to get to for all of us.” Portaferry’s recent lack of competitive matches could be a disadvantage, especially when contrasted with Slaughtneil, who required extra-time just two weeks ago to defeat Cushendall 1-36 to 3-25 in another memorable Ulster Club Hurling encounter. Conlan acknowledged, “It’s not ideal but there’s nothing we can do about. We just have to train hard. Try to get challenge games if possible and just go from there.” McGrattan added, “After the county final, there is a bit of a lull but it gives us time to regroup and we go again.”