All-Ireland Club Junior Camogie Championship semi-final: Brídíní Óga Glenravel (Antrim) v Adare (Limerick) (tomorrow, Edendery, 1pm)
SINCE the All-Ireland Junior club championship was restructured in 2010, Eoghan Rua Coleraine are the only Ulster side to have won a semi-final. They did so earlier this year and then went on to beat Clanmaurice from Kerry in the final.
Clanmaurice have since moved up to Intermediate and Limerick champions Adare have come through to lift the Munster crown. A fortnight ago they went to Ruislip and scored a 3-8 to 0-9 win over London champions Tara.
However, they looked in some bother coming up to half-time in that game when they trailed by 0-6 to 0-2. But they then went in level at the break courtesy of a goal from Aeibhinn Houlahan.
They got a good start to the second half with a second goal from Houlahan and sealed the win with a late goal from Poppy Giltenane, while free-taker Caoimhe Costelloe, a nomination for an Allstar this year, popped over the frees to keep the score-board ticking.
That brief summary of the London game could have been written about any of the Brídíní Óga games on their run to a first Ulster title; they were able to grab a goal at a key period of the game and the consistency of free-taker Eimhear McAleenan punished any errors their opponents had made.
The Glenravel team are the first Antrim winners of the new Phil McBride Cup and have added another layer of success to camogie in Antrim; two county titles lifted in Croke Park in the past two years, the Saffrons contesting the O’Duffy Cup again and dominating the province at under-age and schools’ level.
Over the past couple of weeks Loughgiel have regained the senior club title and this weekend Ruairí Óg will contest the Bridie McMenamin.
County senior Laoise McKenna is a leader within the Brídíní Óga team, despite the fact that she and her sister Maria, the team’s full-back, are now based in Galway. Last weekend’s final against Granemore was the first time Laoise featured at midfield this year and the Armagh champions found it difficult to break even in that area where centre-forward Sarah Fyfe, Erin Colter and the Laverty sisters foraged in support.
Winning the Ulster final will have helped the Glenravel team, although they could have done with a little more preparation time for the next round than just eight days.
Eoghan Rua showed that an Ulster team could reach and win a final. The Glenravel girls can build on that.
Fixtures
All-Ireland Junior semi-finals
1 St Dominic’s (Roscommon) v Knockananna (Wicklow) (today, Kinnegad, 12pm)
Brídíní Óga Glenravel (Antrim) v Adare (Limerick) (tomorrow, Edenderry, 1pm)
All-Ireland Junior B semi-finals
Lacken (Cavan) v Fr Murphy’s (Britain) (today, Bray Emmett's, 1pm)
Roscommon Gaels (Roscommon) v Delvin (Westmeath) (tomorrow, Tang, 1pm)
