AIB Armagh Hotel Ulster Senior Club Final
Loughgiel (Antrim) v Clonduff (Down)
Sunday, 1pm, Box-IT Athletic Grounds, Armagh
By Séamas McAleenan
The omens are certainly not good for Clonduff as they head into their first-ever AIB Armagh Hotel Ulster Senior Club final on Sunday. For two decades up to 2023, the Down champions competed in the intermediate grade outside the county. Clonduff’s second national title at that grade just before Christmas in 2022 caused the grading to be raised to senior. A gap, however, has to be bridged.
First to try was Liatroim Fontenoys, the last Down team to play at senior level in 2002. They lost heavily to Loughgiel in the Ulster final at the Box-IT Athletic Grounds, 0-20 to 0-3. Clonduff came through last year and hosted the Antrim champions in a semi-final tie in Hilltown. They scored 1-14, but Loughgiel beat them with 6-11 and then went on to beat Derry champions Swatragh by a margin of 20 points.
This year Clonduff went straight through to the provincial final, while Loughgiel fired 7-11 against Slaughtneil’s 0-5 a fortnight ago. So it really is a huge mountain ahead of the Down side, who collected their 11th county title five weeks ago with a 1-15 to 0-10 victory over Portaferry.
Fionnuala Carr delivered a Player of the Match performance, shooting 1-7, while another player in the veteran stage, Paula O’Hagan, shot five points. Unusually, Sara Louise Graffin was held scoreless in the final, although she had already made a big contribution to the scoreboard throughout the championship. Beth Fitzpatrick recently picked up an Irish News All-Star award for her performances with Down, while Claire McGilligan, Niamh McConville, and Orlaith McCusker have also impressed in the county colours in recent years. Antrim native Claire Kearney collected an All-Ireland junior title three years ago.
So, there is plenty of experience in the Clonduff ranks. However, they are up against a very experienced club side, many of whose players have been the leaders in Antrim’s pack as well over recent years. The Shamrocks won their 12th successive Antrim title a few weeks ago and have appeared in every Ulster final over that period, winning five titles and playing in an All-Ireland final the same day that Clonduff won at intermediate level three years ago.
Slaughtneil beat them in the other six finals and in three of those years became All-Ireland champions. This weekend Loughgiel are bidding for four in a row Ulster titles. Talk to their players and they claim that they are not deliberately coached to go for goals. But four in the Antrim final and then seven against a team of Slaughtneil’s standing suggest otherwise.
A forward line that contains Róisín McCormick, Annie Lynn, and Caitrín Dobbin has the pace to get clear and, when they do, they really make it count. Clonduff can take heart from the 1-14 they scored last year. Only Dunloy (1-17) has bettered that in the meantime in championship camogie.
“As a player who spent most of her career in defence, I know how important it is for defenders to see the ball stick in the forward line for a while to keep the pressure off,” Fionnuala Carr said in an interview after the county final. That’s a fair point, but against a team of Loughgiel’s quality, the forwards need to be picking off scores as well.
One way to look at this final is that Clonduff have nothing to lose. No one expects them to win and so therefore they can have a cut at it, as they did in the semi-final last year. It will be a huge shock if Loughgiel are not Ulster representatives in next month’s All-Ireland series for the fourth year in succession.
