Eamonn Rooney Coach Hire Down Senior Championship Final: Bredagh (holders) 4-13 Castlewellan 1-4
BREDAGH captain Eilish Ward has said there was never any real talk about a record five successive county titles but after achieving just that with a 4-13 to 1-4 victory over Castlewellan in Sunday’s Down Senior Final she admits it is “amazing”.
“Any day you win a county title is a great day. To win five in a row is just amazing and I'm sure we'll maybe realise how big of an achievement it is further down the line. I think it's testament to all the work that goes on behind the scenes year on year by the club, the management and obviously, the girls,” said Ward.
“We've learned to focus on each match and each championship or league individually as we know we can't afford to get complacent. With the competition for places, we're usually just focused on improving and performing so there's never any talk of history making. Plenty of time for that in retirement.”
The defending champions proved too strong once again for the Town in what was a repeat of last year’s final. Eva Hicks set them on their way early on with a goal that was followed up by another one from Viv McCormack in the 12th minute and by that stage Bredagh led by nine, 2-4 to 0-1, adding a further three to lead 2-7 to 0-1 at half-time.
Ward grabbed their third goal with the first score of the second half and although Castlewellan found the back of the net themselves, tagging on three points as well to leave it 3-9 to 1-4 that was as close as they could get. Bredagh finished out with 1-4 without reply, their fourth major coming from Clare Timoney who finished top scorer with 1-6.
It was a double winning Sunday for the Cherryvale based club with the ‘B’ team winning the intermediate title with a 4-6 to 2-6 victory over Burren in the first game of the day at Kilcoo, to also complete a league and championship double.
The addition of a second team at adult level has undoubtedly contributed to Bredagh’s current dominance in the county and helped the senior team to remain at the top now for a fifth consecutive year.
“With our intermediate team, there's been so much integration between the panels which has definitely contributed and a number of girls have moved from one panel to another which has made us stronger. The younger girls just keep gaining more and more experience and stepping up. It's been great to see players like Niamh Edgar, Caoimhe Duffy and Anna O'Keefe just grow into being hugely important members of our team this year. The younger players coming in just helps keep everything fresh,” said former Donegal player Ward.
Bredagh now turn their attentions to the Ulster campaign. Last year they reached the final losing out to champions Donaghmoyne after a replay and while the aim will be to get back there once again, there is a lot of football to played before that and first up will be the Antrim champions in either Moneyglass or St Paul’s and Ward is not looking any further than that.
“We're obviously hugely motivated to go further than last year but as cliche as it is, we know we can't get ahead of ourselves and just needed to take each game at a time.
“Now we can focus on that first match against the Antrim champions which will be a huge test whether it's St Paul's or Moneyglass. Focus turns back now to training and challenging ourselves in Ulster. We're looking forward to the opportunity to test ourselves against the best teams in Ulster and hopefully, we'll be able to step up to the mark.”
In Donegal, defending champions Glenfin set up yet another final meeting with Termon after both game through their respective semi-finals. Glenfin defeated Moville 4-13 to 1-11 and Termon saw off Naomh Conall 2-11 to 1-7.
Sperrin Og Greencastle have reached the Tyrone senior final with an extra-time 2-8 to 1-10 win over Errigal Ciaran. They will now face St Macartan’s who defeated Killeeshil 1-9 to 1-6.
In Monaghan, one semi-final place remains up for grabs and that will be between O’Neill Shamrocks and Scotstown with champions Donaghmoyne who finished top of the group, Emyvale and Emmett Og all in the last four.
