Johnnies can match anyone 'on our day' - Cunningham

St John's manager Gerard Cunningham does not believe it is a good approach to solely focus on Slaughtneil's strengths

It may be a cliche, but St John's manager Gerard Cunningham says his team will focus on themselves in Saturday's Ulster club hurling final against Slaughtneil (Athletic Grounds, 18:00 GMT) as setting up to stop the Derry champions "would be foolish".

The Johnnies are back in a provincial decider for the first time since their sole success in 1973 thanks to their first Antrim title win in 52 years and an ultimately routine Ulster semi-final victory over Setanta a fortnight ago.

The Slaughtneil challenge will likely be much tougher than what they encountered against the Donegal side in the last four, but that game in the new terrain of the Ulster Championship has "brought us on" according to the Belfast side's manager.

Now, attention turns to a seasoned Slaughtneil team that is bidding for the club's sixth provincial title title in nine years with the versatility of Cormac O'Doherty, Brendan Rogers and Chrissy McKaigue just some of the puzzles St John's must solve this week.

"The hurlers they have are very versatile and if we were to prepare for how they went out against Portaferry [in the semi-final], they could throw something completely different at us and we would be caught cold," Cunningham told BBC Sport NI.

"We'll have different scenarios for how they may play, but as we've done all year, we'll focus on ourselves because when we play they way we can, we're a match for anyone.

"It would be foolish to go man to man and then ignore their quality hurlers.

"They probably have seven or eight (top players) and if we were to put seven or eight on them, it takes away half of our team."

'Nugent's return as goalkeeper has raised standards'

St John's are not short of quality themselves, with a solid spine, tenacious defenders and creative forwards who propelled them to glory in Antrim as they toughed it out in the knockout stage against Rossa, Cushendall and then Loughgiel in the final.

Conor Johnston's prowess in attack resulted in him being named Antrim club player of the year, while Aaron Bradley's move to midfield has brought added energy and Domhnall Nugent's reinvention as a goalkeeper has also made a difference with his leadership crucial, according to Cunningham.

"He (Johnston) always finds a way to get himself free and get on the ball," Cunningham noted.

"Slaughtneil will put a lot of attention on Conor, but that frees up Oisin Donnelly, Oisin MacManus, Shea Shannon... We've five other forwards outside of Conor who can hurt them.

"Aaron has a serious engine and is probably the best stick man in our club. Sometimes he was getting marked out in the corner, but he's getting more freedom out around midfield, which has been a good move for him.

"Domhnall brings a lot of experience and standards. That feeds into the rest of the team. He's a massive influence in the dressing room and it's great to have him back."