Very Ireland National Camogie League Division 3B

Saturday 2pm in Clane, Co Kildare – Clare v Antrim

ANTRIM and Clare met in Portglenone on St Patrick’s Day. The game was evenly-contested for the first 15 and last ten minutes. In between Clare were dominant and got into a position early in the second half where they weren’t going to lose.

They were more physical and more skilful than Antrim during that middle period of the game and the Saffrons had no answer. It was an emerging Antrim side’s worst performance across the group games.

However joint-manager Brian Kearney was more than pleased with the performance his team put up in last Saturday’s key Very National League Division 3B final last group game. Their 1-11 to 1-6 win over Dublin secured them a place in this Saturday’s final against Clare.

“That was a must-win game for us and we were coming off a poor performance against Clare on St Patrick’s Day. So we were more than happy with the outcome.

“If you looked at the first couple of rounds in the league, Dublin were running up massive scorelines and they seemed to be the team to beat. We were very surprised that they lost to Clare. That result certainly told us we had a great chance of reaching the final.”

At half-time on Saturday Antrim led Dublin by 1-7 to 0-1.

“We had impressed on the girls that we needed to get control of the game in the first half. I didn’t think that we had it won at half time – but we certainly were in control and were worthy of that lead.

“Our work-rate was phenomenal in the first half. Everyone was doing what was being asked of them. At half time we were trying to warn against complacency.”

During the course of the league, Antrim have widened their panel, bringing in minor players Aoibheann Donnelly and Cara O’Boyle as well as schools’ stars Eavanne Martin and Sarah Fyfe. All saw action on Saturday with O’Boyle starting and the other three coming in as substitutes.

“The game wasn’t won when we started to make the substitutions. The gap was down to four points. We weren’t emptying the bench to give girls games. We had every confidence in them coming on and adding an extra dimension to our play.”

Looking ahead to the final on Saturday in Clane, Kearney is hoping that his squad attack the final as they did the Dublin game.

“The Clare game three weeks ago was a major disappointment. We played in the first ten minutes and the last ten minutes. In between we were terrible – but hopefully on Saturday we can put that right.

“I don’t think that we necessarily have to worry about Clare ahead of the final. I think they are a good side. I believe that we are their equal. But we need to get our own heads right going into the final.

“Our heads were not right when we played them in Portglenone.”

Very Ireland National Camogie league Division 3B

Antrim 1-11 Dublin 1-6

A comfortable win over Dunlin in Armoy this morning sent Antrim through to next week’s Saturday’s Very National league Division 3Bleague final against Clare.

Antrim got a great start when Brid Magill caught a high ball in around the square and set up Dervla Cosgrove who rifled the Sliothar to the Dublin net with less than two minutes gone. Rocked back on their heels Dublin took a while to recover an it was all of twenty minutes before the hit their first score, Éile Ní Cheallaigh getting on the scoreboard.

With Ellen McIntosh and Dervla Cosgrove dominating for the home side they went on to lead by 1-7 to 0-1 at half time.

Antrim hopes took a bit of a wobble at the start of the second half when Dublin scored directly from a long distance free, and when Skelton added two points from free there was suddenly a chance for the visitors.

However three scores on the bounce from Cara O’Boyle (2) and Orlagh Laverty shut the door firmly in the Dubs chances and Antrim were through to next week’s final.

Judging by their 28 point semi-final win over Offaly today, Clare will prove a totally different proposition in new week’s decider.

Antrim : D Cosgrove (1-4, 0-4 frees), E McIntosh, C O’Boyle (0-2 each), N Neeson, O Laverty and S Fyfe (0-1 each).

Dublin: R Buckley (1-0 free), G Skelton (0-5, 5 frees) Éile Ní Cheallaigh 0-1

Antrim: Á Graham, E Traynor, S Cosgtove, M McLarnon, C Crawford, E McMullan, C McNaughton, A McNeill, F McIntosh, E McIntosh, Bríd Magill, C O’Boyle, O Laverty, N Neeson, D Cosgrove 

Subs: S Fyfe for E McIntosh (40), C Kearney for F McIntosh (41), Brónach Magill for E Traynor (43), M Bakewell for N Neeson (47), A Donnelly for C McNaughton (57), C Heggarty for E McMullan (58).

Dublin: L Campbell, C Ní Bhuachalla, S McCarthy, C Feeney, L McMahon-Keenan, R Buckley, C Walshe, A Croarke, E Adderly, A Deagan, G Skelton, C Murphy, E Ní Cheallaigh, G Shanahan.

Subs: L Power for C Feeney (h-t), H Gibbs for L McMahon-Keenan (34), E Young for E Ní Cheallaigh (51).

Referee: Philip McDonald – Cavan

Cushendall 4-10 portglenone: 0-2

Cushendall made it two wins out of two in the Antrim Camogie League on Tuesday evening when they beat Portglenone by 4-10 to 0-2. The top division has eight teams this season, last years’ Division 1 and 2, designed to give teams more games, with a split coming at the half way stage, dividing into A and B. Teams have to play without their county player, but last night was an exception because the county team failed to make the league final, so all should have been at full strength this time around.

Two points from full forward Orlagh O’Hara and one from Siobhan McKillop gave Cushendall a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after eleven minutes, but Portglenone’s Shannon Darragh pulled one back on 14. O’Hara, who is back in action after more than a year out due to injury added another points on 17 minutes and followed by the by getting the first goal of the game a minute later.

Shannon Darragh got her second point for the Geraldines but a strong run in the last ten minutes of the half by O’Hara and Orlaith McAlister, plus goals by Lauran McMullan and Orlaith McCurry had the home team 3-6 to 0-2 ahead at the break.

It was all one way traffic after the break as Cushendall pushed on with another goal and two from Siobhan McKillop, plus points from Sine Woodhouse and Lara Haughey.

County champions Loughgel travelled to Belfast to take on Rossa and came home winners by 7-25 to 0-4, Dunloy had way too much for Bridini Oga by 5-22 to 0-3, but the team from the bottom tier to do best were Tir na nOg who turned in a great display to run Ballycastle to four points in a game that ended 2-10 to 1-9

Very Ireland National Camogie League Division 1B

Antrim 2-14 Wexford 3-14

For most of the first half of this rescheduled Very National League game in Portglenone Antrim appeared to be well set for a famous win over Wexford. And a subsequent place in the final. However a controversial decision just before the break turned the game on its head when the visitors were awarded a penalty when corner back Colleen Patterson was adjudged to have fouled her marker, when it seemed to clear to everyone in attendance that the foul should have gone the other way.

Ciara O’Connor sent the resultant penalty to the Antrim net and soon afterwards Leah Walsh grabbed her team’s second goal and suddenly the visitors were in charge as they lead by 2-7 to 0-8 at the interval.

The Saffrons had made a great start with three points from Caitrin Dobbin, but Wexford hit back to score the next three points to draw level

Siobhán McKillop, Katie McKillop and Shannon Graham came back with points to help their team to a 0-8 to 0-6 up after 25 minutes, but things went badly against the Saffron in those final minutes of the half to put a much different complexion on the game as the teams came out for the second half.

A Wexford point at the start of the second half increased their lead to six but  Antrim battled back and got the next three points. Áine Magill’s score might well have been a goal for Caitrín Dobbin; her shot came off the base of the post to Magill with the goalie stranded.

However another bad blow saw Curran’s shot from distance ending up in the Antrim net and despite a good point from Siobhán McKillop and a free from Dobbin, Wexford were still 3-8 to 0-13 ahead by the midway point of the half.

Cassie McArthur scores the first of her two second half goals

Cassie McArthur came off the bench for Magill after 48 minutes and her first touch was to finish a move from the McKillops with an Antrim goal. The gap was down to two points.

However Ciara O’Connor took control at the other end with two excellent points from play and then another from a free to make the game safe for her team.

Deep in injury time Róisín McCormick and Lucia McNaughton drove forward to set McArthur up for her second goal, but it came too late to to change the overall result and Wexford were through to a final meeting with Waterford.

Antrim: C McArthur (2-0), C Dobbin (0-9, 7 frees), S McKillop (0-2), S Graham (0-1), K McKillop (0-1), Á Magill (0-1)

Wexford: C O’Connor (1-7, 1-0 pen, 5 frees), A Curran (1-4), L Walsh (1-0), L Bulger (0-1), S O’Connor (0-1), E Tomkins (0-1)

Antrim: C Graham, C Patterson, K Laverty, M Lynn, M McGarry, C Conlon, A Boyke, L McNaughton, A Connolly, S McKillop, S Graham, K McKillop, Á Magill, R McCormick, C Dobbin.

Subs: C McArthur for Á Magill (48)

Wexford: L Brennan, M O’Dowd, E Walsh, R Cooney, A Dunne, C Storey, O Sinnott, S O’Connor, C Cashe, K Kirwan A Curran, Á Leacy, L Bulger, C O’Connor, L Walsh.

Subs: M Byrne for L Walsh (44), M Sinnott for R Cooney (50), C Fox for K Kirwan (55), A Neville for Á Leacy (59), K Roche for E Walsh (60), E O’Connor for O Sinnott (62)

Friday night, saw U12 Camogs from Loughgiel, Creggan, Rasharkin, Ballycastle and Dunloy take part in Go Games Camogie prior to their leagues kicking off after Easter.

St Louis was a hub of exciting camogie activity, with the Antrim intermediate team training prior to this event.

These U12 girls eyes lit up when they realised they would be playing on the same pitch that their county heroes had just been training on.

The county coaches would have been impressed by the skills on show from the girls present. To be the first outing of the year for some, there was no lack of skill or effort.

The new St Louis floodlit 3G provided the perfect arena for these U12 girls to showcase their talents.

Good luck to all the clubs for the season ahead.