IT is up to Portaferry to prove they are now a force to be reckoned with in Ulster after last year’s near miss against eventual champions Cushendall, according to boss Gerard McGrattan.
A point from McGrattan’s son, Tom, had moved the Ports into a four-point lead on the stroke of 60 minutes in 2023’s provincial semi-final – all they had to do was hold on.
But Cushendall battled back in typical fashion, a last-gasp Neil McManus goal taking the game into extra-time before the wheels came off the Down champions’ challenge as the Ruairi Og romped home by 11.
The nature of that defeat has driven Portaferry on over the last 12 months, but there will be no opportunity for revenge after Sleacht Néill ended Cushendall’s title defence in a last four thriller at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds earlier this month.
The Derry champions will be back in Armagh on Sunday evening, determined to regain the crown they wore four times between 2016 and 2021.
And McGrattan knows his men, who cruised past Ballygalget to claim a third Down title in-a-row, have to take it up a level to have any chance of repeating the club’s sole Ulster title success a decade ago.
“You rise to the challenge one year to compete at that level, but the measure of a team is to do it again consistently,” he said.
“We need to raise it again to play at that level if we are going to compete. We won the Down final by 10 points and it is a massive thing for this group of players to win three county titles in-a-row.
“It is great to win the Down championship, but you are measured now with how you can compete in Ulster and can you go to that next step, that next level.”
It was one-way traffic when Portaferry last came up against Sleacht Néill, the Derry champions finishing up with 19 points to spare in the 2022 Ulster semi-final at Corrigan Park.
Portaferry have undoubtedly improved and developed physically in the two years since but, now under former Armagh hurler Paul McCormack, Sleacht Néill looked in rude health when holding strong to see off Cushendall after extra-time.
“Sleacht Néill set the standard in Ulster… that’s the level our boys need to be getting to and that’s the level they want to be playing at if they are going to become better players,” said McGrattan.
“They have to believe in that. Winning a county title is great, but they have to compete at that level to become a better team and to be regarded as a team to be wary of.”
By the time they cross the white line on Sunday, it will have been six weeks since that blustery day in Newry when Portaferry retained the Jeremiah McVeagh Cup.
In years gone by, Michael McShane and Gregory O’Kane – the former Sleacht Néill and Dunloy managers – have questioned the wisdom of the three-team format in the Ulster SHC.
And McGrattan, who won Down’s only hurling All Star back in 1992, feels the competition structure should be revisited.
“Absolutely, a four-team competition, as a minimum, should be there within Ulster.
“It is nice to take that step back and have six weeks to regroup… if you had another game within a fortnight, you’d be straight back into hard training. We obviously can’t plan for who we are going to face.
“Competition does improve players and games will test you and see where you are at.”
