All-Ireland Intermediate finalists Down have nine players nominated for this year’s Camogie Soaring Stars Awards, sponsored by Liberty Insurance.
Marie McNally is one of the three goalkeepers nominated while defenders Alannah Savage, Nicole Down, Fionnuala Carr and Dearbhla Magee are all included. Paula Gribben is nominated at midfield along with Sara-Louise Carr, Niamh Mallon and Saoirse Sands in the forwards.
That is topped only by the Intermediate cahmpions Cork who have ten players included in the 36 panel that will be whittled down to 15 to be announced at the Camogie All-Stars Awards banquet, sponsored by Liberty Insurance at Citywest Hotel in Dublin on Saturday November 3rd.
Four other Ulster players are also included in the nominations with Antrim’s Aileen McManus and Katie McAleese, Derry midfielder Gráinne McNicholl and Armagh forward and captain Ciara Donnelly.
President of the Camogie Association Kathleen Woods congratulated the nominees stating that “Once more this year we will have a Soaring Stars team that celebrates the achievements of our players at Intermediate and Premier Junior level in this year’s Championships. These nominations recognise the skill, commitment and sportsmanship of our players and I congratulate each of the nominees. While Camogie is a team sport it is important to acknowledge at a national level the continued contribution that our players make to our game.”
Camogie Soaring Stars Awards 2018 sponsored by Liberty Insurance, nominees list:
Goalkeepers:
Maria McNally (Down), Amy Lee (Cork), Shannon Touhey (Offaly).
Full-Back Line:
Niamh Leen (Kerry), Sarah Harrington (Cork), Sabrina Larkin (Tipperary), Aoife Higgins (Westmeath), Nicole Kelly (Down), Alannah Savage (Down), Leah Weste (Cork).
Half-Back Line:
Aileen McManus (Antrim), Jennifer Barry (Cork), Gertie Dowd (Roscommon), Fionnuala Carr (Down), Siobhán Hutchinson (Cork), Dearbhla Magee (Down), Deirdre Johnstone (Dublin).
Midfield:
Paula Gribben (Down), Nicola Loughnane (Tipperary), Katelyn Hickey (Cork), Gráinne McNicholl (Derry), Patrice Diggin (Kerry).
Half-Forward Line:
Pamela Greville (Westmeath), Caragh Dawson (Dublin), Finola Neville (Cork), Jenny Grace (Tipperary), Katie McAleese (Antrim), Saoirse McCarthy (Cork), Ciara Donnelly (Armagh).
Full-Forward Line:
Aoife Bugler (Dublin), Sara-Louise Carr (Down), Sinéad O’ Brien (Roscommon), Caitríona Collins (Cork), Caroline Sugrue (Cork), Niamh Mallon (Down), Saoirse Sands (Down).
Down Senior Championship Final: St Patrick’s Park, Newcastle
Saturday Oct 6 2018 (3pm)
Clonduff Shamrocks v St Patrick’s Portaferry
FOR MOST of the first semi-final a fortnight ago it looked as if the holders Clonduff Shamrocks were on their way out of the 2018 Down title-race. But they somehow conjured up enough scores to turn around an interval deficit of 1-6 to 0-3 and reach their ninth final in 12 seasons.
A few of the players who have featured in all of those nine deciders played key roles in the comeback with Paula O’Hagan racing clear in the 36th minute to kick-start the comeback with an excellent individual goal and she later added three points to take them over the line.
Fionnuala Carr was, as usual, a rock at centre-half back with her huge clearances through to the opposition 20m line. Her sister Sara Louise however was more subdued than usual but did contribute a beautiful long-range point in the opening half.
But on the day Clonduff were vulnerable enough against the youthful energy of Ballygalget and it gives a lot of hope to another club from the tip of the Ards’ peninsula hoping to land a first ever county title.
Portaferry have a dismal record in Down finals with five appearances and five defeats to date, although only the last two (1-11 to 1-2 v Clonduff in 2014 and 3-7 to 2-6 v Liatroim Fontenoys in 2016) are relevant to this particular group of players.
Should Portaferry manage to change the pattern there is little doubt that Niamh Mallon will have played a big part in getting them over the line.
Her performances and scoring feats in the county colours in 2018 have been top-drawer and the main reason Down won back the Ulster Senior title and reached the All-Ireland final last month.
And minor Saoirse Sands has really delivered on under-age promise this year by nailing down a spot at corner-forward in the Down senior team with her two points in Croke Park something special.
Both players were to the fore as Portaferry came through what was regarded as the easier side of the championship draw with wins over Ballela and An Ríocht in recent weeks.
A key ingredient in Ballygalget doing so well against Clonduff was the ability of their defence to close out the champions’ forward line. Portaferry need to show the same aggression and work-rate
NWP Ulster Club Junior quarter-final: Sunday (2.30pm) in Granemore
Granemore (Armagh) v Wolfe Tone’s Bellaghy (Derry)
JUST over a month ago Granemore faced Keady in an Armagh championship semi-final at the Athletic Grounds and the game that took well over two hours to complete. In fact a replay was then required to find a team to progress to the final to meet Middletown.
Granemore really struggled in that drawn game, both in terms of general play and also in front of goals, requiring 1-8 from Rachel Merry to get a 1-10 each draw. Surgery to the team was required and goalie Ciarrai Devlin was brought out to full-forward to boost their scoring potential.
The move worked and Devlin accounted for 1-4 of the 1-10 the team scored in the replay to see them through to the final where they took out the threat of Jenny O’Leary at midfield and beat Middletown 0-10 to 1-1.
It was a poor final with defences dominating and that meant strong performances from the Kellys and McClellands with Ciara Hill providing the drive from midfield.
In the Derry final last Saturday in Magherafelt, the Bellaghy defence did a good job on Banagher’s danger players in attack and that meant that Grainne Convery and Roisin Gallagher got enough possession and won enough frees to take the Tone’s to their first county title since they were last senior Ulster champions in 1993.
Like in Armagh it was a hard-fought win and not guaranteed until late in the game, but they never looked likely to lose either.
Aisling McErlean may not be the dominant force up front that she has been in the past, but she was still sharp enough to grab 1-1 from half-chances and take them over the line, while the likes of captain Aine McElwee, Sarah Cassidy and the midfield pairing of Sarah Darragh and Roisin Cassidy worked very hard.
Last season Granemore limped out of Ulster, but a year on they look determined to atone for that disappointing result. With home advantage they are set up to prove that last year was a temporary blip.
However Bellaghy have had an impressive run through Derry this year and could well go further. A close game is forecast with perhaps a key score or mistake capable of making the difference for either team.
NWP Ulster Club Junior quarter-final: Sunday (2.30pm) in Crosserlough
Crosserlough (Cavan) v Bredagh (Down)
JUST OVER a decade ago, Clare native Anne Costello was instrumental in developing a camogie branch within the Bredagh club. Anne is still involved and wore a broad smile a fortnight ago when the south Belfast club took the Down Intermediate championship title for the first time with a 5-10 to 2-5 win over Ballyholland.
There is no bad time to get goals, and first half majors from Aoibhinn Brentnall, Aislinn McFarland and Andrea McKillop gave them control of the game. From that point they were able to push on and claim the title.
Overall they still have quite a young team with more than half still teenagers; some of them took the club through to Féile success three years ago and are now enjoying A grade schools’ camogie with Our Lady’s and St Patrick’s Knock.
However the team that they need to deal with tomorrow (SUNDAY) in the NWP Ulster club quarter-final is much more experienced in terms of age and of the geography of the provincial championship.
However Crosserlough, the reigning Ulster champions, didn’t get it easy in their own domestic championship last month and were taken to a replay by Laragh after a 1-10 to 0-13 draw. The replay was a much more defensively minded game and ended on a 0-7 to 0-4 score-line for Crosserlough to take their third successive title.
Captain Erin Galligan emerged as Player of the Match in that game while the Finnegans, Ciara and Aine, again put in a good shift at midfield and Sinead Coyle tied up the defence.
As defending champions and with home advantage, the Cavan side will start favourites to advance to a semi-final with the winners from the Granemore quarter-final.
