IT is turning into a rather eventual season for Irish News Camogie Player of the Year Róisín McCormick.
Back at the end of April she scored 3-5 to help Antrim end Down’s four-year stranglehold on the Ulster senior club title. She won the Player of the Match award for her performance that day.
Down had also beaten Antrim in two other finals (the 2020 All-Ireland Intermediate final and the 2021 National League final) since McCormick first appeared in the Saffron jersey at senior level. So that win was hugely significant for her and her Antrim team-mates.
But McCormick picked up a foot injury and was out of action from August through to October. She only made one Antrim championship appearance for Loughgiel when she came into the county final as a substitute a few minutes before half-time. Unusually for her she didn’t find the target.
On Saturday she started for the first time in a Loughgiel jersey this year and again delivered a Player of the Match performance as well as top-scoring with 1-6. It was her first victory over Slaughtneil at senior level, another huge line crossed.
“I think I have been around the team for six years now and every one of the five previous campaigns ended with this match here and a loss to Slaughtneil. Some of the other girls have been there a year longer. Same thing," McCormick said.
“But we felt coming into this final with fresh new faces and a fresh new management that we had nothing to lose. The pressure was all on Slaughtneil and we put that all into our performance today.”
There seemed to be a lot of space for both McCormick and her club and county team-mate Caitrin Dobbin to work in, something that wasn’t the case in previous finals.
“I don’t agree that there was a lot more space. It might have looked like that. I think that the two of us made better use of the space we had,” claimed the Dublin-based student.
“Catrin, Anna (Connolly), every Loughgiel player made good use of every ball they got today and that helps the inside forwards when the right ball is coming through. It took every one of those deliveries to get us over the line.”
The north Antrim side got off to a flying start and 17 minutes in had taken a six-point lead thanks to goals from McCormick and Dobbin. Yet the teams were level again a few minutes into the second half.
“Look, this is Slaughtneil. They have a great defence and when going forward they are a real danger. We have seen it in many of the games we have played over the last few years. We would get three, four points up and suddenly we would find ourselves behind again.
“Today it was key for us that, when they did come back at us, they never got ahead. We had the wind in the second half and we had been ahead at half time. We were confident we could use the wind to get scores and we did that after they drew level. So they were still chasing us.”
Given Slaughtneil’s profile at All-Ireland level over the past six seasons, surely Loughgiel will go through into next month’s semi-finals with a lot of confidence.
“An All-Ireland semi-final will be a completely new experience for many of the girls. Some of the older players were there a couple of times before Slaughtneil came on the scene.
“Obviously Slaughtneil managed to win three All-Irelands and be competitive at that level every year. We have seen what they can do and hopefully we can push on now and win the next game.
“But it will be a new experience for us; we have to believe that we can make things happen.”
