Hurling & Camogie

Antrim star hoping to guide Loreto Coleraine to schools' success

Antrim county camog Nicole McAtamney is hoping to lead Loreto, Coleraine to Junior Medallion Shield success as a coach, a decade after starring as a player for the school
Antrim county camog Nicole McAtamney is hoping to lead Loreto, Coleraine to Junior Medallion Shield success as a coach, a decade after starring as a player for the school Antrim county camog Nicole McAtamney is hoping to lead Loreto, Coleraine to Junior Medallion Shield success as a coach, a decade after starring as a player for the school

Ulster Schools’ Camogie Junior Medallion Shield final: Loreto, Coleraine v Assumption, Ballynahinch (Thursday, Ballymena, 2pm)

TEN years after helping Loreto, Coleraine win their last major schools’ trophy, Antrim senior camogie star Nicole McAtamney (née O’Neill) is back with her alma mater in an Ulster final, this time as coach to the side that has gone through the Junior Medallion Shield unbeaten and now face Assumption, Ballynahinch in the decider on Thursday afternoon (2pm) in Ballymena.

Her team have impressed through the competition and also in the FMC Appliances Ulster Sevens where they went all the way to the final where they lost to St Killian’s, Garron Tower.

The team though is fairly young with many of them featuring in the team that last May won the U14A Shield with wins over St Patrick’s, Keady and St Louis', Ballymena.

Glenullin and the local Eoghan Rua club each supply four players to the team while there arer three from Dunloy including team captain Lucy McQuillan. Full-back Isabella O’Kane and centre-forward Tess Mullan are both from Eoghan Rua, while the Glenullin four include midfielders Connie McBride and Kate Healy.

McBride was Player of the Match in the semi-final win over Our Lady’s with four points while the goal came from Dunloy full-forward Kerry Drain.

Assumption Ballynahinch are in the final for the very first time and they also beat Our Lady’s along the way. However, Loreto will be their first test outside their own county as they won their regional group and then met St Mark’s, Warrenpoint in the semi-final a couple of days before mid-term.

That game went right down to the last couple of minutes when added time points from Alannah McKay and Aoife Gilmore got Ballynahinch over the line by 3-8 to 2-9.

Erin Douglas and Ellie McCabe in defence and Alannah McKay and captain Áine O’Neill really impressed during that game.

Schools from both Derry (seven wins) and Down (six) have done pretty well in the 18 finals contested in this grade.

Assumption will hope to even the score in their first final, while Loreto will try to bridge the gap to their only title that came in the first final, a 1-6 to 1-4 win over St Catherine’s Armagh in January 2004. The north coast school might just be slight favourites.