'Portaferry's win was for Ciara' - Turpin

On a day when the Portaferry community came together to rally behind their hurlers, thoughts of the late Ciara Mageean were not far away.

Before the St Patrick's men scored a 1-25 to 2-14 win over Dunloy to book their place in the Ulster Club SHC final on Saturday, 28 November, a minute's silence took place in honour of an icon of Irish sport who lost her battle with cancer two weeks ago, aged 34.

Mageean, who played camogie for Portaferry as a youngster, also helped out with the club's senior hurlers in recent times.

Finn Turpin, who scored six points from play in Portaferry's win on Sunday, spoke of what the late two-time Olympian meant to all within the Portaferry community and hopes their win can help put a smile on the faces of the town.

"It's been a tough few weeks for the club, as a community and in town," Turpin told BBC Sport NI's Odhran Crumley after Sunday's win in Armagh.

"That win was for her and hopefully her family can get a bit of joy out of that today because they did it for her.

"Ciara, she was unbelievable. She was in with us the past few years, she sent us her expertise and what we could do.

"It's unbelievable that we're back in an Ulster final and hopefully we can win it."

Certainly, all in blue and gold will have ben delighted by how their team booked a return to the final and a rematch against Slaughtneil, who have been their nemesis on the provincial stage.

Portaferry battled for every ball, hunted in packs and brought an intensity Dunloy struggled with.

When the Antrim champions began to get to grips with the challenge and narrow the gap to one with eight minutes to play, Portaferry got a slice of luck that has perhaps eluded them at this stage in the past as Tom McGrattan's shot dropped and evaded Ryan Elliott to roll into the net.

There was no looking back from there and O'Prey is hopeful this level of performance can carry into the final as they seek the club's first provincial title since their maiden success in 2014.

"It was a super performance from start to finish," O'Prey added.

"The work-rate was top notch and everything we've been working on in training paid off.

"They got a couple of soft goals. Yes, we got a soft goal towards the end to probably knock the stuffing out of them, but from start to finish, couldn't fault the work-rate from one to 15 and the subs who came on.

"We'll take massive positives out of today. We know what Slaughtneil have to offer but this is a different Portaferry team. The belief, confidence and ability to get through games like today will stand to us."