As St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass travel to Donaghmoyne this weekend to take on the LGFA Ladies club championship in the first round of Ulster, in what is a repeat of last year’s final, the Saffron Gael speak to one of the rising stars of Moneyglass and Antrim, Maria O’Neill.
Saffron Gael:
You were awarded the POTM at the senior championship final this year. Congratulations for that and well deserved Maria. You had a fantastic game and what a great season you have had for Moneyglass this year. Tell us about it and what has been the highlight to date?
Maria O’Neill:
It’s been a great season. Coming off of such a successful year last year we knew we had another big year ahead and had goals we needed to achieve to get back into Ulster again this year. Our performance in the league set us up really well coming into championship and gave us a chance to look at some of the younger girls coming through and really start piecing together our starting team.
My highlight of this year would be winning the championship final against St Paul’s. They gave us a good fight and overall I thought it was the most exciting game we’ve had to date.
S.G.: You have been playing alongside Orlaith Prenter for a number of years now and she has been one of the stars of the Antrim club championship and of course, her performances for Antrim has brought her rave revues. What has it been like playing alongside Orlaith and how has it benefited your own game?
Maria O’Neill:
It’s been unreal playing alongside Orlaith, she is a great footballer and there is so much you could learn from her.
We also played school football together in St Mary’s so we are very familiar playing with each other, and can read each-other’s runs and plays.
She really encouraged me to be more confident on the ball and take on scores and it’s just been great playing with her in the forward line.
S.G.: Tell me about the Antrim championship and who you played on the way to the final and the final itself against St. Paul’s?
Maria O’Neill:
Antrim championship was tougher this year than last. With there being 4 teams in the senior championship this year it has got very competitive and all of the games were tough but on the other hand they were great opportunities for us to improve our play.
S.G.: Donaghmoyne have dominated Monaghan and Ulster club football for a number of years. You came close to beating them in last year’s final. You travel to them this weekend. How do you think last year’s game will prepare you for this weekend’s encounter?
Maria O’Neill:
Watching back last year’s game I feel like we didn’t play to our full ability. We made a lot of silly mistakes and since then we’ve straightened them out. Its hard meeting last year’s Ulster winners in the first round of this year’s competition but we are more than up for the challenge and we are definitely more prepared going into this year’s game than last years.
S.G.: How has preparation for Sunday’s meeting with the Ulster champions gone. Tell us about your management and how the knowledge gained from last year’s defeat is likely to have benefited you for this year’s first round meeting?
Maria O’Neill:
We’ve done a lot of preparation over the last few weeks leading up to this game. With a lot of us re-watching last year’s game and reflecting on what went right and wrong and how to fix those issues.
Our management has also been working very hard behind the scenes to get us video analysis of different games so we can identify where and what we can improve on and also in order to incorporate strategies into our play to resolve these issues.
Overall I just feel like we are a lot more prepared going into this game than last year.
The Saffron Gael will be in Donaghmoyne on Sunday to cover the Moneyglass v Donaghmoyne game and we wish the Antrim champions every success and will hopefully be bringing you a great success story on Sunday night.
