AIB Ulster Camogie Senior Club Championship

Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran at the Box-IT Athletic Stadium, Armagh 16th November 2025

Clonduff 1-11 Loughgiel 2-15

This was one of those finals where the outcome would write significant history. Clonduff were in their first Ulster final and a win would have set the Mournes on fire but it was a day for ‘four in a row’ as Loughgiel now paint the history books red and white. It was anticipated that if Loughgiel played with their recent form against Slaughtneil, Clonduff could face an uphill challenge but they came to Armagh with a plan that put the Shamrocks to the pin of their collar and arguably at the earlier stages of the game, Loughgiel looked like the team with an uphill battle, especially after dropping to fourteen players late in the first half.

Roísín McCormick opened Loughgiel’s scoring account from a free earned by Caitrín Dobbin in under a minute of the start, whilst Katie McKillop slammed that account shut in second half injury time with a one on one goal that was emphatic about their determination to be crowned champions again. In between, Clonduff came at the Shamrocks hard and were the benefactors of clean lifts and accurate hand passing that allowed them to hope, going a point ahead, before Loughgiel clawed them back just before the break.

The second half witnessed a shift in Clonduff’s fortunes and once Loughgiel got their nose out in front from two purple patches, you could see the Hilltowner’s chance slip away like sand through fingers. Roísín McCormick’s impeccable scoring of 1-10 earned her the player of the match and was a major factor in putting the trophy beyond Clonduff’s reach.

After a minutes silence in honour of the late Madeline Quinn, match referee Chris Hickson rolled in the sliotar after Loughgiel won the toss and opted to play the first half towards the scoreboard end in the Athletic Stadium. A long ground ball out of the throw in from Loughgiel’s Amy Boyle found Caitrín Dobbin and attracting a foul, seen free taker McCormick float her first point over Clonduff’s bar.

Clonduff would reply with their first point from Paula O’Hagan, derived from a chain of passes on the dugout side after a hard won ground ball but McCormick nudged the Shamrocks ahead again from her own won foul and free with five minutes on the clock.

In less than two minutes, Clonduff would shake the earth that Loughgiel stood on with an early goal that deflected off the outreached stick of Cassie Fitzpatrick from an O’Hagan free, but Clonduff’s lead was neutralised a minute later as an alert Annie Lynn pinched a loose ball out of the air along the sideline and delivered that cleverly to a breaking McCormick that took the direct root to Clonduff’s goals, out pacing her markers for Loughgiel’s first goal. The Shamrocks would have to bear the weight for the next five minutes or so from Clonduff’s physicality around Loughgiel’s defence but a series of Loughgiel frees amounted to little as the Hilltowners broke down any advance.

On the thirteenth minute, McCormick landed her third point from a Marie Laverty foul but Clonduff’s O’Hagan replied with her free to close the gap to just one point, Clonduff 1-02 Loughgiel 1-03. However, McCormick enjoyed a further reply from a Ciara Laverty pass that setup the Shamrock for a point from play.

Once again, the game lapsed into a sequence of fouls with no advance from either side on the scoreboard, until Clonduff found Loughgiel’s catch net three times, twice from O’Hagan and a played advantage from Cassie Fitzpatrick to take the lead by one point. It could have been four as a long ground ball from a sideline ripped up through the mid field to Clonduff’s O’Hagan who drifted that wide after the pick up. Loughgiel did have their chances though, weaved in between those points, as Dobbin offloaded with a hand pass to a running Katie McKillop who just couldn’t connect with the heavy pass and had to make do with a ground pull that was blocked by Clonduff’s Fionnuala Carr.

Loughgiel bounced back with another threat to goal after a long puck out from Emma McAllister that was batted on by Annie Lynn to Katie McKillop. McKillop sensed a hook incoming and opted for the underhand lob that ran out of steam, landing dangerously at the feet of Clodagh Kelly who tipped it out for the 45. McCormick added that to her tally along with another free just ahead of the whistle, which Hickson eventually blew leaving scores on the large scoreboard announcing Clonduff 1-05 Loughgiel 1-06.

At the restart, Loughgiel drew down their first purple patch as they amassed three points on the trot from Lynn, McCormick and Marie Laverty before Clonduff recycled a free by Sara Louise Graffin and topped that with a fine point from play. Clonduff though will regret the bravery shown by Loughgiel’s goalkeeper, Emma McAllister, as she ran out to diffuse a real threat from Ellen Shields at close quarters from a Graffin kicked-on sliotar.

Loughgiel’s McKillop fashioned a score over the bar from another Marie Laverty pass just before Clonduff’s O’Hagan slotted two more frees into the catch net. Those scores brought Clonduff back into the game but could not have foreseen how easily the Shamrocks took control for their second purple patch with five scores in a row, three frees from McCormick and Anna Connolly and McKillop tipping sliotars over from close range.

Clonduff now found themselves six behind with twenty five gone in the second half and within two minutes, O’Hagan fired over two frees to make that four the difference before Katie McKillop did the unthinkable from a solo run stamped with a point all over it. McCormick fed in a clever sliotar down the dugout line to McKillop from a free until her range to goal became too good to be true with a slam into the net past Clonduff’s Kelly, up went the green flag to pull down the shutters and declare the Ulster business as done.

Loughgiel now travel to Trim (tbc) on Saturday 29th November to play the winners of the Munster championship, which will be either De La Salle, Waterford or St. Finbarr’s, Cork to be played on Saturday 22nd November.

To see more photos from Sunday’s game, click on the following link…

https://myalbum.com/album/XDDBFSm7i2VvT2/?invite=0b84f823-0097-4516-bfdd-b80bad08482e

Scorers for Clonduff

Sara Louise Graffin 0-01, Cassie Fitzpatrick 1-01, Paula O’Hagan 0-08 (7f)

Scorers for Loughgiel

Roísín McCormick 1-10 (6f, 2×45), Katie McKillop 1-02, Annie Lynn 0-01, Marie Laverty 0-01, Anna Connolly 0-01

AIB Ulster Camogie Senior Championship Final Box IT Athletic Stadium, Armagh 16th November 2025 1:30pm

Preview of Sunday’s AIB Ulster Camogie final between Clonduff and Loughgiel and photos from Michael Corcoran.

Both of these teams are familiar rivals in the Ulster scene, having met last year in the semi final stage. That game was played in damp conditions under the distant profile of Hen Mountain in the impressively scenic Mournes. Loughgiel ran up a big score in that game due to a solid second half performance despite the Shamrocks dropping to fourteen players. It was a game though that entertained the Loughgiel supporters, many having travelled all of the 160 mile round trip.

In that semi final, Clonduff’s quartet of Fionnuala Carr, Sara Louise Graffin, Orla Gribben and Paula O’Hagan stood out as the sources of danger for Loughgiel. Sister’s Sara Louise and Fionnuala took their scores over the bar, whilst O’Hagan managed an early goal from a Graffin pass. This will be Clonduff’s first appearance in an Ulster final, hoping to join the winning ranks of Liatroim, Newry and Kilkeel, all from Down.

But the game will be remembered mostly for the second half drama, where Roísín McCormick ran up a hat trick, one of those coming from a 45th minute penalty given for a foul on an inbound Caitrín Dobbin. Despite playing with fourteen players, the Shamrocks forged ahead and in the end totalled six goals and thirteen points to Clonduff’s goal and fourteen points.

The recent semi final game against Slaughtneil will have sent out tidal waves of consternation for opponents and those waves initially washed up onto Clonduff, who witnessed the game’s action from the bank. The game will have offered up no immediate insight in how to break down the Shamrocks, but that won’t hamper the Hilltowners from trying.

Loughgiel have reached for another gear this year and players coming off the Antrim county scene have delivered in spades for their club’s championship endeavours so far and league hardened players continue to contribute and progress along with returning players and those that have moved up into a regular senior appearance. The Shamrock’s faced a hungry Dunloy in the Antrim Camogie senior final, providing one of the most enjoyable championship games seen in recent years and Loughgiel couldn’t have asked for a better pre Ulster prep match.

Clonduff’s passage to the Ulster final came by way of a bye for the Down team but their journey to their own county final was no breeze. Despite a 4-16 to 1-11 score against Portaferry in round 2, the Ports closed that gap and trailed in the final by only eight points with a final scoreline Clonduff 1-15 Portaferry 0-10, giving the Hilltowners a run for their money and arguably a good preparation match for the Ulster final if you can live with the four week wait as the Down final was over on the 18th October. Typically, O’Hagan and Carr delivered scores to haul Clonduff over the line for their eleventh Down Camogie title, despite the presence and threat from the Port’s Niamh Mallon.

The Box IT Athletic Stadium, Armagh will be the stage for Sunday’s final and stealing a marketing line from a well know brand, this isn’t just any final, this is the AIB Ulster Camogie Senior Club final. Title holders Loughgiel, have had recent success in Armagh, having won against Down side Liatroim in ’23 on a day that witnessed a deluge of rain and a concerned grounds team for the following double bill senior hurling game. The Shamrocks will be hoping to do it again for four in a row with their current form, whilst the Mourne side attempting to make their own history, might have a mountain to climb, but this one isn’t on their doorstep.

You can revisit last year’s semi final game between Loughgiel and Clonduff on the Saffron Gael here…

Shamrocks hit Clonduff for six

Here’s a candid interview with the previous manager, Conor Higgins, prior to last year’s semi final game against Clonduff…

Shamrocks trek to the Mournes in search of another Ulster final

You can revisit last year’s Ulster camogie final between Loughgiel and Swatragh on the Saffron Gael here…

History makers – Shamrocks make it three in a row

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