AIB Ulster Intermediate Camogie Club Championship: Eglish (Tyrone) v Clonduff (Down) (today, Páirc Esler, 12pm)
ON the first weekend of December last year, Eglish convincingly defeated Clonduff in the delayed 2020 Intermediate final (3-11 to 1-3).
A month later the Tyrone side lost their title to Portaferry, the 2021 final finishing in a single-point victory for the first-time Down champions. It was a game that more accurately reflected the standard of camogie in the two counties.
Between winning the 2020 Down championship in September of that year and the competition continuing through to Ulster level, Clonduff lost several key members of their team and had even failed to make the semi-finals in Down this time last season.
This year they are back to their full complement of players and playing extremely well as a team. That was evident from their first group game in the Down championship when they had a six-point win over Liatroim Fontenoys.
By the time the sides met again in the Down final three weeks ago they had improved further and took to the cleaners a Liatroim side that had dethroned Portaferrry in the semi-finals. The 4-15 to 0-4 scoreline did not flatter the winners.
They were dominant in almost all areas of the pitch, but particularly at half-back where Claire Kearney, Fionnuala Carr and Katie Morgan formed a strong barrier with Erin Rafferty quickly on to anything that did get through.
Claire McGilligan and Isabella O’Hare were also dominant at midfield and that allowed the Clonduff management to keep Paula O’Hagan in the full-forward line alongside Sara Louise Graffin. That is an impressive front line of attack.
What more than anything impressed in their games this year was their stick-work; it has improved steadily over the past couple of seasons and, allied to the team-work and fitness of the panel, makes them a force to be reckoned with.
Eglish had another easy win in the Tyrone decider, beating Derrylaughan by 4-25 to 1-5 a couple of months ago. However since then their chances of collecting a fifth provincial crown at this level have taken a significant hit with injuries to full back Catherine Muldoon and exciting teenage forward Reagan Fay. Neither will play in the final.
Losing players of that calibre from a club side will leave them stretched in much the same manner as Clonduff were stretched this time last year.
There is no doubt that they still have experienced and quality players in the Donnelly sisters and an exciting prospect in Kaitlin Gallagher, who last month picked up an Ulster Schools’ All-star. Gallagher scored two goals and three points in the Tyrone final.
But the further a team goes in a championship the more likely they will come up against a side that can exploit those absences. Clonduff, on current form, look very capable of being that team.
This year Eglish had been using Leanne Donnelly, an Irish News All-Star as a midfielder, more as a centre-forward. Without Fay in the middle of the park, the youngest of the three Donnelly sisters is likely to revert to midfield and, given O’Hare’s and McGilligan’s performance in cancelling out Dearbhla Magee, she will face a huge battle in that sector.
Eglish will still go into the game believing they have a strong chance of making the grade once again.
The big issue though is how the Eglish defence will cope with the presence of O’Hagan and Graffin in the corners while plenty of ball is being sprayed into them. Their success or otherwise in this area alone will probably determine how the game will turn out.
The form-book suggests that it is Clonduff’s to lose. Eglish have a huge task ahead of them.
