Your guide to the Ulster Club Hurling Championship

Slaughtneil's Mark McGuigan and Conor McAllister lift the Four Seasons Cup last year

With the county title celebrations now long gone, attention turns to the provincial campaign with the champions of Antrim, Derry, Donegal and Down set to battle it out for the Four Seasons Cup.

The 2025 edition contains a mix of familiar faces and fresh challengers which provides added intrigue.

Slaughtneil enter as defending champions having won the Derry title for a 13th-straight year and will open with a repeat of last year's final against a Portaferry side that completed a four-in-a-row in Down.

On the other side of the draw, Antrim champions St John's enter the provincial arena for the first time since 1973 - the year of their last county title - and they come up against Setanta who won the intermediate title in 2023 and will this year become Donegal's first representative in the senior competition.

An exciting series of games lie in story, so let's have a closer look.

When does the Championship start?

The semi-finals are scheduled to take place this weekend (15/16 November) with the first semi-final between St John's and Setanta taking place at Owenbeg on Saturday, while Armagh's Athletic Grounds is the venue for the meeting of last year's winners Slaughtneil and runners-up Portaferry on Sunday.

The final is set for Sunday, 30 November.

What does the winner get?

As mentioned, the four teams will battle it out for the Four Seasons Cup with a place in the All-Ireland semi-final against the champions of Galway (St Thomas'/Loughrea) in December also on offer.

What happened last year?

Shea Cassidy scored a vital goal in the 2024 final

Slaughtneil returned to the winner's enclosure as they won a first provincial title since 2021.

It was a thrilling series of games with the Derry champions overturning the previous year's final to Cushendall as they came through in extra time against the Antrim champions in the last four.

Neil McManus bagged a late goal to tie it up, but Slaughtneil found another gear in extra-time to beat their great provincial nemesis 1-36 to 3-25.

If that wasn't enough drama, the final also delivered as it seemed Portaferry were well on their way to just their second provincial crown when leading by eight, only but two goals in the space of a minute from Se McGuigan and Shea Cassidy to ignite the Slaughtneil challenge as they gradually got their noses in front.

A Cathal Coleman goal with four to play seemed to flip momentum back to the Down side, but Slaughtneil finished well to come through 2-19 to 1-19.

How did the teams get here?

The first county final took place in Donegal with Setanta defeating St Eunan's on 30 August as two late goals from Josh Cronolly-McGee saw the Finn Valley men grab their 19th county title by 2-12 to 0-13. As they won the Ulster Intermediate title as recently as 2023, they qualify for the senior competition for the first time.

St John's will provide their opposition and the Belfast men find themselves back at the top of the pile in Antrim for the first time since 1973.

The Johnnies produced a late rally to beat old rivals Rossa in the quarter-final before coming through an extra-time thriller in the semi-final against Cushendall, and then finishing the job against Loughgiel as goals from Donal Carson and Oisin MacManus helped them to a 2-16 to 1-18 victory.

Slaughtneil made it 13 Derry titles in succession as they once again stormed through their county championship, winning all of their group games and then powering past Swatragh in the semi-final with 11 points to spare. In the final, Kevin Lunch's proved no match as two first half goals from Brendan Rogers and another from Shea Cassidy helped them to a 3-24 to 1-10 win.

The last of the county titles took place in Down with Portaferry making it four-in-a-row, topping the round robin group and then after a routine win against Bredagh, goals from Cathal Coleman and Eoghan Sands helped them to a 2-24 to 2-13 win over Ballygalget.

Players to watch

Setanta's Gerard Gilmore, St John's Conor Johnston, Slaughtneil's Brendan Rogers and Portaferry's Finn Turpin have all impressed for their club in 2025

For Setanta, Cronolly-McGee's eye for goal was crucial in the Donegal final, as was Gerard Gilmore's accuracy from play and frees, while there is experience in the form of former Armagh star Declan Coulter in defence.

St John's have stars throughout with plenty of county experience. Brothers Ciaran and Conor Johnston have been crucial, as has centre-back Peter McCallin, while Oisin Donnelly has emerged as one of the leading young players throughout the Antrim championship.

Slaughtneil need little introduction at this stage, spearheaded by a highly decorated group of players including Brendan Rogers, Shea Sassidy, Se McGuigan, Shane McGuigan, Ruairi O Mianain and Chrissy McKaigue.

As for Portaferry, the Sands brothers Eoghan and Daithi are key figures, but there are plenty of others capable of starring with Cathal Coleman, Niall Fitzsimmons and Finn Turpin all central to their latest success in Down.

What have they said?

Speaking to BBC Sport NI at the launch of the Ulster Championship, St John's manager Gerard Cunningham said:

"Feet are back on the ground, Antrim is done, so it's now looking forward to Setanta. We've no right to disrespect anyone as this is our first time here in a long time. We'll prepare for this the exact same was we prepared for Cushendall, Rossa and Loughgiel.

"We watched the Donegal final as saw they are a physical, fit team with some really good hurlers, so we have to prepare for these boys like we did for the Antrim championship."

Setanta captain Mark Callaghan:

"I think we're the first side (from Donegal to play in the senior championship) so it's brilliant for the club and for Donegal hurling too. There's good things going on with the development of it (hurling) so it can only be good for the development of hurling in Donegal and Ulster to be up there.

"There's not bad team at that level in Antrim. We're maybe hoping they come in cold to this, but we know St John's are a brilliant side and didn't win Antrim overnight. They've a lot of work done and we're just trying to get up to that level."

Slaughtneil manager Paul McCormack:

"We're under no illusion of the task in front of us. Portaferry have been really close there the last number of years and I've read 'unfinished business' as the term being used for them, so they will be coming hard for us.

"We had a few weeks off there, trying to get a few injuries cleared up and unfortunately, some men look like they won't make the game, but we'll try to do the best by the people of Slaughtneil again."