Antrim Senior Championship Semi-Finals: Saturday 12th September
6pm in Armoy : Cushendall v Loughgiel
6pm in Ballymena : Dunloy v Ballycastle
By Seamus McAleenan
Loughgiel and Dunloy will meet in Sunday’s Antrim hurling final and it could wll be the same set-up in the camogie final. However Cushendall and Ballycastle might have a say in the matter.
LOUGHGIEL are still the team to beat in Antrim – although Ballycastle showed how it could be done in the round-robin series a few weeks ago.
That was the Shamrocks’ first defeat in the Saffron championship for seven seasons – but it was not a fatal blow and they bounced back immediately to claim a 4-10 to 1-7 victory over Dunloy to still finish in top spot on score-difference in the group.
Cushendall reached the final a couple of years ago, but Loughgiel put them to the sword early and ran up a 5-20 to 1-4 winning margin.
Ruairí Óg ladies have improved significantly in the interim and took the scalp of a fancied Dunloy side in a league encounter at the start of August and I don’t think there will be just as much between the teams as in 2018.
Still, Orlagh O’Hara would need to be getting, and using well, a lot of possession for the sea-siders to halt the relentless progress of Loughgiel who have a lot of forward options in Caitrin Dobbin, the Lavertys and Róisín McCormick. Stop a couple of those and trouble breaks out elsewhere. Loughgiel to make the final once again.
The second game could be very interesting as both Dunloy and Ballycastle would fancy themselves doing well in a final with Loughgiel.
Dunloy were winners in both the league and round-robin championship ties between the pair over the last few weeks – but Ballycastle will have been lifted by that 0-13 to 0-11 league win against Loughgiel, when they made the running from pillar to post.
Áine Magill has emerged as a huge scoring threat for Dunloy to complement the deadly accurate Nicole O’Neill from frees and long range. They also have a solid defence build around the powerful presence of Chloe Drain and Caoimhe Conlon with young players such as Caoimhe Molloy and Katie Laverty really coming into their own.
Ballycastle had a fine minor team in 2016-2017 that has taken a couple of years to mature into good senior material around Niamh, Kathryn and Niamh Anne Donnelly. The signs are that the likes of Maeve Kelly, Caoimhe Wright, Catherine McShane and younger players such as Riana McBride and Nuala McShane can help their team edge close encounters.
They pushed Loughgiel close in last year’s final and then beat them this year. But they are still searching for a way to beat Dunloy. They will come close in this semi-final, but I doubt if they will make it.