Armagh City Hotel Ulster U14 Camogie ‘A’ Championship Final

Derry produced a stunning performance on Saturday afternoon to retain the Ulster ‘A’ U14 camogie championship at Portglenone.  On an afternoon where the sun shone and the rain teamed down at different times, there was nothing changeable about the Oak Leaf girls performance throughout the hour as they put in a display of power, pace, accuracy and skill to end up with a huge winning margin.

To be fair to the young girls in Saffron, they had moments of brilliance throughout and battled well in the second half.  Two goals in the opening five minutes of the second half from Ellie Lynn and Caoifhionn McShane showed they had the fight and determination to potentially get something out of the game should the Derry girls lower their work rate but that never looked like happening.

Ellie would finish the game with a hat-trick and was a real shining light for the Saffrons in attack with her stick work and skill giving the Derry defence plenty to think about.  Cliodhna McKeever gave a tireless display with a number of impressive penetrating runs from deep while Aoibheann McDonnell also impressed.

The Derry attack were excellent throughout, led by the brilliant Feina Kerr.  Grainne Doherty was a live wire in the corner with Cliodhna Moore also excelling but in truth, they showed no weakness throughout and even with the changes made throughout, had numerous scoring threats.

There will be lessons to learn from a Saffron perspective as the Derry girls played like a side who have been together for some considerable length of time and while Antrim battled hard, they were up against a much superior side.

Antrim Team: Clodagh Mc Larnon; Annie Convery, Ceara Slevin, Amber Anderson; Niamh Martin, Caitlin Graffin, Roisin Brady; Cliodhna McKeever, Rose McMullan; Jane Feetham, Eillie Lynn, Aoibheann McDonnell; Caoifhionn McShane, Lucia Trainor, Rosa O Conor, Meave O’Kane. Subs: Erin Neeson, Lucy Cunning, Maggie Kearns, Caoimhe Doherty

Derry Team: Karen Birt; Eva Scullion, Mya McAllister, Charlotte O’Hagan; Tara Kelly, Cassie Conway, Emma McVey; Eva Forbes, Clodagh McIlvar; Cora Quinn, Feina Kerr, Ella Rafferty; Grainne Doherty, Rachel Gribbon, Cliodhna Moore. Subs: Laura Brown, Emma Forrester, Emma McCartney, Grace McCloskey, Saoirse McCullagh, Shanna McEldowney, Amy McGilligan, Orla McKenna, Cammie McMaster, Deirbhile Mellon, Niamh Morgan, Rose Quinn, Caoimhe Roache, Kelly Scullion, Tierna Cartin, Cassie Diamond, Eva Diamond, Gracie Diamond, Aoife Doyle

To see more of Brendan McTaggart’s pics from the final click on the link below –

https://myalbum.com/album/itoPEnSbPdQKWN/?invite=04efc5f0-41bc-455d-8d02-4bc9b83b215a