Reigning Ulster champions Slaughtneil are on their guard ahead of Sunday's senior provincial hurling final.
The Derry side are only too aware that their sole defeat in the province in six years came against Sunday's opponents, Ballycran.
The last team to beat Slaughtneil in Ulster before Ballycran was Cushendall, back in 2015.
“This current team, we’ve been on the beaten track as a collective at least 10 years,” says Slaughtneil’s Chrissy McKaigue.
“The one thing we’ve learned more than anything else, with the greatest respect to everyone else’s opinion – different narratives are created – we do tend at this stage to ignore it.
“We have the experiences. We have done the preparations. And while there have been good days with Slaughtneil, there have been some very hard, harsh days. And 2018 was one of them days.
“We were beaten comprehensively. We will see on Sunday whether we’ve learnt from it.”
Meanwhile, there are six provincial football semi- finals down for decision, two apiece in Munster, Leinster and Connacht.
The pick of them is Ulster champions, Kilcoo, who lost the 2020 All-Ireland final to Corofin after extra-time, against Malachy O’Rourke’s rising force from Derry, Glen.
Fermanagh’s Derrygonnelly also meet Armagh’s Clann Eireann.
