Hurling & Camogie

Ballycastle’s Niamh Donnelly and Madden’s Sinéad Kiernan captain Ulster’s Junior Interprovincial camogie squad

Ballycastle’s Niamh Donnelly and Madden’s Sinéad Kiernan will jointly captain Ulster in this weekend’s Junior Interprovincial camogie competition at the Abbotstown Center of Excellence in Dublin.

The competition is run on a one-day blitz format and Ulster have good record in recent years.

The majority of the team come from the three Junior graded teams, Armagh, Cavan and Tyrone, but as with all provinces, they are permitted several players from the Intermediate grade which brings Antrim and Down players on board.

Clonduff All-Ireland medallists Paula O’Hagan and Sara Louise Carr have been regulars in recent teams and they are joined by Down team-mate Dearbhla Magee, all of whom have Croke Park experience from last September.

Niamh Donnelly is joined by three more Saffrons in Maeve Connolly, Chloe Drain and Katie McAleese and the seven from the Intermediate grade will form the back-bone of the northern challenge which opens with an 11.30am game against Leinster.

But it won’t all be about the Intermediate players as others tend to step up to the mark fairly well with Crosserlough’s back to back Ulster medallists, Orla Smith, Sinead McKenna and Aoishe O’Reilly, showing that type of form in the club championship as well as Eglish pair Aisling Jordan and Leanne Donnelly who are captains of Tyrone and Armagh respectively this season.

After the group games, the top two provinces go into the final and I would expect Ulster to achieve that. Winning will depend on how much energy has been expended in making the final.

Ulster panel : C Devlin, C Beagan, E Hayes, C McCooey, L Donnelly, E Smyth, R Merry, S Kiernan, O Murray (all Armagh), O Smith, A Reilly, S Fitzsimons, C O’Reilly, J O’Rourke, A Coyle, A O’Reilly, S McKenna (all Cavan), A Jordan (Tyrone), D Magee, P O’Hagan, SL Carr (Down), M Connolly, N Donnelly, C Drain, K McAleese (Antrim)

Programme :

11.30am : Ulster v Leinster and Munster v Connacht

12.20pm : Ulster v Munster and Connacht v Leinster

1.10pm : Ulster v Connacht and Munster v Leinster