Sport

Dominant Antrim see off Derry to set up Ulster senior final showdown with Down

Antrim's Maeve Kelly fires a score over the bar ahead of Megan Kerr of Derry during the Ulster Senior Camogie Championship semi final at Loughgiel on Saturday Picture: Margaret McLaughlin.
Antrim's Maeve Kelly fires a score over the bar ahead of Megan Kerr of Derry during the Ulster Senior Camogie Championship semi final at Loughgiel on Saturday Picture: Margaret McLaughlin. Antrim's Maeve Kelly fires a score over the bar ahead of Megan Kerr of Derry during the Ulster Senior Camogie Championship semi final at Loughgiel on Saturday Picture: Margaret McLaughlin.

Ulster Senior Camogie Championship semi-final: Antrim 3-10 Derry 1-9

IT IS doubtful if Antrim learned anything from this comfortable enough victory over Derry in Saturday afternoon’s Ulster senior championship semi-final in Loughgiel.

Forced into a rejig of the defence due to a player being a close contact for Covid, captain and midfielder Lucia McNaughton switched to centre half-back with Niamh Donnelly dropping into full-back.

Derry, to an extent, managed to exploit this by pulling the central players out of the middle and had two or three first half runs down the channel that should have delivered scores.

At the other end, Caitrín Dobbin seemed to be the only Antrim forward taking the correct option in the first half and she accounted for their 0-3 to 0-1 lead by the water-break.

Both sides added to their wides total over the next 10 minutes before Dobbin cut in from the left corner to hit the roof of the net and make it 1-5 to 0-1.

A couple of minutes later, a long free from Nicole O’Neill bounced high and into the roof of the Derry net. However, Derry goalkeeper Niamh Gribben made amends with an excellent save before the break and again in the third quarter.

However, the tempo of the game seemed to drop after the interval despite Derry hitting the opening three scores of the second half, two of them from Eimhear McGuigan.

But Róisín McCormick cancelled them out by cutting in from the right corner and batting home Antrim’s third goal. Dobbin quickly added a point to bring her personal tally to 1-5 and the lead stretched to 3-7 to 0-5

Derry hit the last four scores, three points from McGuigan and substitutes Áine McGill and Maria Rafferty before a fine finish to the net by Megan Kerr.

But the game lacked the intensity of the five games that brought the Saffrons to within touching distance of the league title.

Ahead of them in this Saturday’s Ulster final is Down, the team that beat them in that Division Two decider last month and last year's All-Ireland Intermediate final. If it is to be third final lucky in the provincial decider, a much improved performance will be required.

Antrim: C Graham; K McKillop, N Donnelly, M Lynn; C Patterson, L McNaughton, S Devlin; E Laverty, A Boyle; Christine Laverty, A Connolly, N O'Neill (1-0 free); R McCormick (1-3), M Kelly (0-2), C Dobbin 1-5.

Subs: Ciara Laverty for Christine Laverty (41), C McKillop for A Boyle (48), NA Donnelly for K McKillop (51), R Kelly for N O’Neill (51), C McShane for S Devlin (54).

Derry: N Gribben; S McGill, O McGuigan, R Cassidy; C Glass, A Ní Chaiside, C Ní Mhianáin; Á McAllister (0-1), M Kerr (1-0), E McGuigan (0-4, 0-3 free), D OKane; S Mellon, C Gunning, A Shaw, J Donnelly 0-1.

Subs: M Rafferty (0-1) for A Shaw (41), Á McGill (0-1) for C Gunning (45), N Nugent for S McGill (45), E McErlean for R Cassidy (56).

Referee: P McDonald (Cavan)