All-Ireland Junior Ladies Football Championship semi-final Down v Carlow Sunday, Parnell Park, Dublin, 2pm DOWN should have the favourites tag going into this weekend’s AllIreland junior semi-final as they are up against a Carlow team that played in Division Four this season. Carlow only won one game during the Division Four campaign, against London. In the other two games they lost to Fermanagh and Antrim. The Junior Championship has been a happier hunting ground for Carlow compared to their league campaign as they have picked up wins against London (4-11 to 3-6) and Derry (6-11 to 2-6). They lost to Fermanagh by seven points (1-13 to 0-9) but were still able to get through to the knockout stages as they finished ahead of Derry and London in the group. As second place in Group B, they play first place in Group A which is Down. Full forward Cliodhna Ní She scored 1-6 against London, Sinead Heyden scored 1- 1 from corner forward. Centre half forward Sara Doyle scored 1-2, when they won 4-11 to 3-6. Their fourth goal came from Caoimhe Jordan. Peter Sloan, Down ladies joint manager alongside Caoimhe Sloan, said, “they (Carlow) have improved dramatically in the last year or two. They ran Fermanagh very close and we know how difficult Fermanagh are to beat. Only a goal by Fermanagh at the end put a gloss on that game. “They beat Derry comfortably and London comfortably. They have momentum and a couple of dangerous forwards. We would be hopeful that if we can bring our A game we can get past them but it is by no means easy.” Down should feel confident about getting a win following their perfect display in the group stage when they won three matches on the trot. They opened with a 1-13 to 2-5 win against Sligo. In round two they outscored Kilkenny by 13-24 to 0-4. In round three they faced their toughest test against Limerick, which they won by 1-13 to 1-8. Natasha Ferris had a starring role that day, scoring 1-9 of Down’s total. Peter said, “Limerick gave us problems in the first half. We lost our shape once or twice. We reviewed that at half time and the players are quite good themselves to make adjustments on the pitch when they see an issue arising. Sometimes they will see it before us and we can trust them on that. There are a lot of experienced girls there. “We put in a better structure for the second half and that helped us to win in the end.” Limerick take on Fermanagh in the first semi-final on Saturday, and Down will be keen to see who comes out on top in that one. Perhaps the danger is complacency, but it is unlikely that Down, who are so focused on trying to gain promotion, will lose focus. They should account for Carlow with ease on Sunday. Down manager Peter Sloan said that Down are in good shape in terms of their squad and will have everyone available bar long-term ACL injury concern Sarah Dougherty.
