‘Ciara was on everybody’s mind’: Portaferry channel Mageean’s winning spirit to reach Ulster final

Ulster senior club hurling semi-final: Portaferry 1-25 Dunloy 2-14The balm was not so much Portaferry’s brilliant victory over Dunloy on Sunday, but rather the game itself. Just being out on a field again and the escapism that comes with playing and watching team sport.Lord knows the little town on the outer edges of the Ards peninsula needed something to cling to following the tragic loss of their most celebrated native Ciara Mageean, who passed away from cancer a fortnight ago.“Ciara was on everybody’s mind, but the hurley gives us an element of escape,” said Portaferry manager Connor O’Prey after their win at the Athletic Grounds.“The parish of Portaferry and surrounding parishes can take something out of today, [it] gives a bit of positivity around the place.”Portaferry’s proud relationship with hurling was once summed up succinctly by Marty Mallon. Asked about the O’Neill’s size five’s whereabouts on the peninsula, the former Portaferry and Down hurler proudly declared: “It never got off the boat!”Mageean was weaned on the same belief that runs through the peninsula in Co Down like a stick of rock – sporting and cultural values introduced to the area in the early 1900s by Ned Purcell, a Tipperary man and agricultural inspector, the reason behind Portaferry’s blue and gold colours.Ronan McGee plays on the pitch during half-time of the Ulster senior club hurling semi-final at the Athletic Grounds. Photograph: Dan Clohessy/Inpho Down champions for five consecutive seasons, Portaferry have won the Ulster title just once before, in 2014 when they upset the odds to beat Cushendall in the final.After seeing off Ballygalget to retain their county crown last month, O’Prey’s young charges knew they would face two daunting provincial hurdles if they had designs on winning another provincial crown. As for the Dunloy, co-managed by Shane Elliott and Liam Richmond, the north Antrim side were returned as county champions last month following a four-year famine.Beneath mint-blue skies, Sunday’s semi-final was an occasion to pause and remember Mageean. It was a day when a community in mourning began to fathom how to place one foot in front of the other again. It was fitting, too, that Portaferry produced such an outstanding display.Dunloy's Keelan Molloy celebrates scoring his sides first goal. Photograph: Dan Clohessy/Inpho Tom McGrattan, Finn Turpin, Tom Murray, Barry Trainor and the Sands brothers – Eoghan and Daithí – were outstanding against a decidedly off-colour Dunloy.The defining moment was an uncharacteristic mistake by Ryan Elliott in the 55th minute, when the Dunloy goalkeeper allowed Tom McGrattan’s speculative effort to squirm from his grasp, the sliotar dribbling into the net.McGrattan’s goal put Portaferry 1-21 to 2-14 up with five minutes of normal time remaining, with Dunloy having nothing by way of a response to close the gap.Elliott’s mistake aside, the Antrim champions can have no complaints. Portaferry were the better side in every department, attacking with wonderful clarity and verve, rarely missing in the opening half-hour to open up a 0-16 to 2-7 half-time lead.Only for Keelan Molloy and Nicky McKeague’s first-half goals, Portaferry might have been out of sight at the break. Dunloy rallied through substitute Eoin O’Neill in the second half, while Conal Cunning’s unerring placed balls kept them in touch.But nothing was going to deny Portaferry, carrying Mageean’s spirit with them. In a fortnight’s time, it will be reigning Ulster champions Slaughtneil standing in their way.PORTAFERRY: P Smyth; D Mallon, B Trainor, C Taggart; R Smyth, M Conlan, C Milligan; T Murray (0-3), S Conlan; F Turpin (0-6), D Sands (0-2), C Coleman (0-2); E Sands (0-3), N Milligan, T McGrattan (1-7, 1f). Subs: N Fitzsimmons for C Milligan (41 mins); R Blair (0-2) for N Milligan (44); N Rogers C Coleman (59); C Smyth for C Taggart (60+4).DUNLOY: R Elliott; A Crawford, R McGarry, O Quinn; E Smyth, E McFerran, A McGarry; N McKeague (1-0), S Elliott (0-1); N Elliott, C Cunning (0-9, 9f), L McFerran; C Elliott, K Molloy (1-0), C McMahon (0-2). Subs: E O’Neill (0-2) for C Elliott (39 mins); T McFerran for N McKeague (44); B Scott for K Molloy (47); P Shiels for E Smyth (58).Referee: T Conway (Derry).