Derry hurler Brian Og McGilligan pictured at Croke Park on Thursday.
By Michael Devlin
Derry hurler Brian Og McGilligan believes the gap between the superiors of the Ulster hurling scene, Antrim, and the province’s chasing pack is narrowing.
The Banagher man was speaking at the launch of the Christy Ring Cup in Croke Park on Thursday, which gets underway for the Oak Leaf County tomorrow with a trip to Portaferry to take on Down.
Antrim have long been the foremost hurling county in Ulster in terms of titles, and are currently operating in Division 2A of the Allianz Hurling League, but McGilligan believes the ground is being made up, considering that Derry just missed out on league promotion to Antrim’s grade after a four-point defeat to Wicklow in the Division 2B final.
“We were a step away from getting up into the same division as Antrim, and I definitely think that gap is getting smaller. Antrim are going very well, but I think ourselves and the likes of Down and Armagh are getting closer.”
“The league went fairly well. Obviously we got to a final, didn’t get over the line which was unfortunate, but I still think we developed well throughout the league and got stronger game by game. It was a bit disappointing to not go on and win it and get promoted, but I think we did quite well and we take a lot of positives from it.
“First up against Down, so that’s going to be a tough one. In the league, there was only a score in it. At minor and development squads and U21, we played them a lot, and also at schools level, so we know them fairly well. We’ll be expecting a tough one at the weekend again.”
A look across the Derry team-sheet and you’d be expected to see a strong Slaughtneil representation lined out. They’ve won the Derry county title on the last six occasions, as well as Ulster titles in 2016 and 2017.
Brian Og McGilligan featured for Derry in the 2017 Nicky Rackard Cup final against Armagh.
McGilligan knows more than most the might of the Robert Emmet’s club, having been bested in each of the last three Derry deciders with Banagher. He contends though that despite Slaughtneil’s dominance, there is a lot more to Derry hurling.
“They’re the big wigs there at the moment, but when you look there at the moment we have a good mix from a lot of clubs in Derry, the likes of ourselves and Kevin Lynch’s in Dungiven, and a few lads from Ballinascreen.
“Obviously the Slaughtneil lads make up a good majority of the team and it’s good to have them, but there is a good mix to the panel.”
Derry powered to a Nicky Rackard Cup final win at Croke Park two years ago with a resounding 3-23 to 2-15 win over Ulster rivals Armagh. McGilligan featured off the bench that day, and he believes the memory of that glory has acted as a motivator for he and his Derry team mates to keep progressing up through the ranks.
The story of Carlow, who won the Christy Ring Cup in 2017 and are now competing in hurling’s top tier, is another example that McGilligan takes inspiration from.
“It’s always great to get a run out on Croke Park, and hopefully there will be another run out at the end of this year.
“When you look at Carlow, look at what they’ve done, they won Joe McDonagh and are up playing Liam McCarthy. That’s the way to do it in my opinion, against teams that are in around the same level as you year on year and you progress on through. It’s definitely the way to go.”
