Shamrocks go forth in bid for a fourth Ulster title run

thesaffrongael

7 months ago

**Loughgiel celebrate their third Ulster win in a row in 2024, playing in red against Swatragh.**

Ulster Camogie Senior Club Championship semi final Slaughtneil v Loughgiel 2nd November 2025

Match preview and photos from Michael Corcoran

Sunday’s Ulster Camogie Senior Club semi final Championship has all the trimmings of a final feast. That’s not because a final encounter with Clonduff is a given win for either of these two teams, far from it, it just feels like the last few years have given way to an attritional encounter between the Derry and Antrim sides once Loughgiel announced their presence in the 2022 final with a solid win of 2-13 to Slaughtneil’s 1-11. Then we witnessed a tense low scoring semi final victory for the Shamrocks in Dunsilly in ’23, ending Loughgiel 0-09 Slaughtneil 0-05, played in perfect conditions with glorious autumn sunshine.

**Maria O’Hara (nee Lynn) runs out to collect the sliotar in the ’23 semi final against Slaughtneil in Dunsilly.**

Loughgiel then went on to win the Ulster final against Liatroim Fontenoy’s in the Box-IT Athletic stadium, Armagh in 2023, a game that was played in atrocious conditions.

**An early deluge during the 2023 final made conditions slippy underfoot.**

2024 was an unconventional run for Loughgiel, with no game against Slaughtneil, as they met Clonduff in a wet semi final in the Mourne county. The Shamrocks brought their might to Clonduff and ran out convincing winners at 6-13 to 1-14 and you would have been thinking a third Ulster was on the cards, but anyone that watched Swatragh disarm Slaughtneil in the ’24 Derry final would have been thinking Loughgiel will meet their match – would have been wrong. Swatragh never got going down in Beragh Red Knights that day and largely due to Loughgiel’s dominance of the game. Christine McCloskey (nee Laverty) was the captain for the Shamrocks, and led from the front, literally giving blood for her club.

**Christine McCloskey, taking a year out, literally gave blood for her club against Swatragh in the 2024 final.**

Loughgiel’s new captain, Amy Boyle, has picked up where Christine left off, with a side that’s hungry and a desire to complete a bigger journey they might feel is due. Boyle has enjoyed a meteoric rise in her profile from captaining the County’s side to National league and Provincial titles and recently a twelfth county club title, not even to mention personal accolades from 2024. The ruck buster has made substantive changes to her game and has demonstrated a desire to take her score more often than not, particularly in the county final against Dunloy where Christine Campbell cleverly kicked forward a sliotar to a waiting Boyle. Boyle carried the ball forward and after a collision with a Dunloy defender, lobbed the sliotar from a kneeling position with immeasurable accuracy into the clutches of Annie Lynn for her hat trick. That was a showcase final for Antrim camogie and has served the Shamrocks well for preparation against the Derry champions, as Dunloy chased and applied pressure to the final whistle.