Brendan Rogers was sensational, scoring seven points from play as Slaughtneil edged Ruairí Óg Cushendall in a thrilling Ulster senior hurling semi-final.
Slaughtneil looked destined for glory leading by three points with injury time almost up, only for Neil McManus to send a speculative late effort through a slew of bodies and straight into the net, bringing the game to extra-time.
The 12-in-a-row Derry champs had dominated the closing quarter of an hour only to be rocked on their heels by McManus' sucker-punch, but they recovered to re-establish their authority in extra-time, with Rogers again to the fore as his direct running ripped through the Cushendall rearguard.
In many ways, the game was something of a shoot-out between Neil McManus of Cushendall with Brendan Rogers and Jack Cassidy combined. The Slaughtneil duo hit thirteen from play between them while McManus, the Antrim legend, ended his day with 3-9, including 3-6 from play.
FT: Slaughtneil win an Ulster hurling classic after extra time.
The Derry side overcome Cushendall to book their place in the final against Portaferry
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Chrissie McKaigue was on punditry duty for RTÉ having played only football this year and he described the range of emotions experienced by the Slaughtneil players on the back of McManus' goal.
"Irrespective of what age you are, that was as cruel a way to finish a game as any," said Chrissie McKaigue at full-time.
"But the biggest thing is, it doesn't have to be game-defining. Now, they're just going to have to take heart out of the fact that it's been our best performance of the year so far. It'll take them a while to get them back to ground zero again."
But Slaughtneil picked up exactly where they left off in the additional period, with two long-range points from Ruairí Ó Mianáin setting the tone for the rest of the game.
In the end, they powered clear to win by five on a remarkable final scoreline of 1-36 to 3-25, with Derry footballer and Slaughtneil hurling wing back Shane McGuigan hailing Rogers' input after McManus' goal.
He told RTÉ how Rogers helped calm the team down with some well-judged words in the dressing room.
"I'll be honest, it was (hard to go again)," McGuigan said.
"We came in and I think it was Brendan that said, 'right boys, you have a minute to feel sorry for yourselves. Then we have to get back to it.' That was it."
Sensational from Neil McManus. The Ulster Club SHC semi-final is heading for extra time
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McGuigan also mentioned how Slaughtneil focused on re-discovering their 'Slaughtneil-ness' this year, something he broke down into each player winning their own battle on the field.
"It's something we've probably gone away from in the last couple of years, we had talked about our 'Slaughtneil-ness,' and just bringing it into a fight and winning your own individual battle, and there's a lot to be said for that.
"Over the spread of the fifteen players we had tonight, you could see we came out on top of the majority of them."
They won the battle on Saturday night, bringing them through to the Ulster final in a fortnight's time against Down champs Portaferry.
