Ulster Camogie Senior Club Championship 2nd November 2025

Loughgiel 7-11 Slaughtneil 0-05

Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran in Emmet Park, Slaughtneil.

Loughgiel set out their Ulster stall with an emphatic 7-11 landslide win over a rebuilding Slaughtneil squad that were pinned over the sixty minutes to just 0-05. It was an exquisite display of camogie from Loughgiel of the highest level. Slaughtneil never got going such was the might and dominance from Loughgiel. In truth, the Emmets were Shamrocked.

On a breezy day on the lower pitch at the foot of the Sperrins, Slaughtneil hosted Loughiel in the AIB Ulster Camogie Senior semi final. Match official Philip McDonald from Cavan and his select group of officials got the game underway promptly after a minutes silence for Marie O’Hagan, associated with Loughgiel and Con Magees in Glenravel in many ways.

Loughgiel’s Amy Boyle won the toss and in typical fashion, opted to turn around and play into the diagonal wind blowing up the hill towards the top pitch. It would prove to be a chilly affair and took a small toll on long pucks but it didn’t play a part in how Loughgiel would eventually dismantle the Emmets over the hour. A sharp Annie Lynn pick pocketed a ball mid air from Aoife Ni Chiaside and over the bar it flew within the first minute to register the first score.

Slaughtneil replied with three points on the trot from Aoibh Mulholland, Dervla McGuigan from a free and another point from Mulholland as she worked up a ball from the ground that flew in from a prior free that didn’t have the legs to reach the goal mouth. It could have been an ominous sign as the Emmets pulled away by two points but Annie Lynn, protagonist of Loughgiel’s county final, steadied the ship with a strike over the Emmet’s bar from an Amy Boyle offload in the twelve minutes.

Within less than a minute, Loughgiel would return and hit heavy and hard from a Caitrín Dobbin strike to goal after a sumptuous pass from Katie McKillop. The Shamrocks would build on that with two more points, both frees from an on form Roísín McCormick. The Emmets could have closed the gap somewhat by two consecutive points from frees, only Cliona Mulholland found some difficulty in the drift from the breeze.

At the opposite end of Emmet Park though, the Laverty sisters weren’t bothered by the breeze. Marie Laverty made a run into the scoring zone but good defending from the Emmets offered up the only sensible option, which was a pass to sister Ciara and from the Loughgiel dugout, floated a high and dropping sliotar that slipped in behind the keeper for the second green flag in twenty three minutes.

There would be no respite for Slaughtneil in the torrent of Shamrock activity as Annie Lynn broke free to puncture the silence with roars from Loughgiel supporters as the net bulged from her strike. And within two minutes, the deadly duo of McCormick and Dobbin returned to deliver a fourth goal as McCormick enjoyed the offload from Dobbin.

The Emmets replied with a point from Bridin McAllister to keep vocals alive on the sideline but that was quickly neutralised when Katie McKillop successfully flighted a free just ahead of McDonald’s half time whistle, scores on the board displaying Slaughtneil 0-04 Loughgiel 4-05. Could Slaughtneil come back in the second half, would they close the gap significantly to reemerge as a threat, the sideline was buzzing with speculation.

And they didn’t have long to wait, although Slaughtneil swept a sliotar past the Loughgiel uprights in less than 30 seconds of the restart with a wide from a free, Loughgiel’s Marie Laverty scooped up a loose ball offering it to Clare McKillop on the advance. That sliotar was also passed on to an industrious Amy Boyle finding McCormick on the end of her pass and on the fourth minute a fifth green flag took to the air. The Shamrocks had a taste for green. McCormick would tag on another point from a free just minutes before Slaughtneil scored their last point from Tina Bradley with only six minutes elapsed in the second half.

Amidst the scoring it has to be said, physical rucks favoured few but Loughgiel’s Clare McKillop and Boyle had their fair share of the spoils. And at the Shamrock wall of defence, McGarry, Lynn and Campbell continued to recycle advances back out to frustrate the Emmets all the more. Slaughtneil managed to slip around that wall but at short range, arguably point blank range, Loughgiel’s keeper, Emma McAllister was put to the test as Slaughtneil’s Bridin McAllister lashed the sliotar goal ward, but the Shamrocks’ instincts foiled the goal attempt and that would be the last real opportunity for the Emmets to return to the game.

Loughgiel pursued their game plan and points continued to flow from McCormick from a 45 created from a Dobbin attempt to strike into the heart of the goals but forced wide from a kneeling position. Annie Lynn returned to complete on another scoring attempt from Dobbin to soar a fine point on the recycle and Dobbin would eventually be rewarded for her tenacity, with her own point from a pin point accurate pass from Kirsty McKendry.

Half way through the second half Ciara Laverty offered a ball to Marie, running into the scoring zone but being walled up by a sea of maroon, had to recycle around to complete her intent of raising yet another green flag, this one was a simple shove into an open goal as Laverty found herself beyond keeper McMullan who had come out to deal with the first attempt.

By now the All Ireland medal winning management made a call to turnover the bench and three on for three off had Mary McKillen point within minutes of entering the field. Another point lifted the Shamrocks to 6-11, and the Shamrocks seventh and final goal from Annie Lynn derived from Clare McKillop dragging the sliotar out from under a ruck witnessed the game run to a halt in little over 32 minutes.

This Ulster final will go down in history as one of the most surprising emphatic wins in an Ulster encounter that drew all of the Shamrock players into the mix for an exemplary team performance, but the Shamrocks won’t linger on that thought. The final game against Clonduff in the Box-IT Athletic stadium, Armagh will be their next focus and Clonduff will be well aware now of the bar Loughgiel can set having had eyes on the game on Sunday. Nothing will be taken for granted in two weeks time.

You can view more photos from Sunday’s game by following this link to our album…

https://myalbum.com/album/fdBQMVzJWfxMeA/?invite=3c6f0348-c7de-4744-bf19-f9e420e157a9