Football

Eimear Gallagher is hitting the high notes for Antrim

Antrim’s Eimear Gallagher has been a revelation at full-forward for the Saffrons this season
Antrim’s Eimear Gallagher has been a revelation at full-forward for the Saffrons this season Antrim’s Eimear Gallagher has been a revelation at full-forward for the Saffrons this season

ANTRIM’S Eimear Gallagher has been making quite a name for herself this season as a prolific full-forward for the Saffrons.

The St Galls player’s all-round ability to find space, use it, supply the final ball to her on-running team-mates and, ultimately, find the target, both over and under the bar, is just one of the reasons why Antrim are in the Junior Championship final against Longford in Croke Park on Sunday (11.45am).

In the quarter-final against Lancashire, the 28-year-old was virtually unplayable at times, Antrim’s supply of fast, direct ball into the full-forward devastating, the Lancashire defence unable to read her next move of either setting up her team-mates for scores or taking on the defence herself, scoring five points.

She may have grabbed herself two goals in the 6-15 to 2-8 semi-final over British champions London, but Gallagher is keen to point out she is only one cog in the wheel and her team-mates are doing the hard work.

“Our communication is very good,” Gallagher says.

“I shout and they ping the ball into me. I have to give the credit to team and, where we are today, it is because it has been a real team effort. Thankfully, in the last few games, the forwards have really started to gel.

“Against London, everyone from the goalkeeper right up and the subs that came on, played exceptionally and we hope that we can build on that momentum and push ourselves and bring that performance with us into the final against Longford.”

This will be Gallagher’s second All-Ireland final, having appeared as a half-time substitute in the 2009 final victory over Limerick and scored two points. She wasn't playing for her county when they claimed their second West County Hotel Cup in 2012, defeating Louth in that particular final, deciding to concentrate on club football after returning from a summer of football in Boston in 2011.

She admits she did not think Antrim, who were regraded from intermediate to junior for 2016, would be in an All-Ireland final, particularly as their focus at the beginning of the year was the National League. The Saffrons have been stuck in the doldrums of Division Four for a long, long time now and, under manager Séamus McKenna, their aim was to finally get out of ladies' football's bottom-tier.

And while they did make the final, defeating Longford in the semi-finals which, incidentally, is the Leinster side’s only defeat all year, they lost the decider to Limerick: “We needed to get out of Division Four, that was our aim for 2016,” Gallagher adds.

“It is disappointing to be downgraded back to junior and we do not feel that it is developing the county at all but, no matter what, you want to be there in Croke Park on All-Ireland finals day and it is an honour to step out in an Antrim jersey.

“Séamus and Sinéad [McLaughlin] have plans for the next couple of years to keep developing football in the county and that is what Antrim needs. Hopefully, it will be at an intermediate level as we have a lot of younger players coming through and good foundations to build on.”