Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Championship Group 3, round two
Antrim v Offaly (Saturday, Portglenone, 4pm); Limerick v Waterford (Sunday, Cappamore, 2pm)
ANTRIM have been fortunate with the draw in this year's senior camogie championship.
Firstly, they were placed in a group with three teams that they had already met in the league this season, but secondly their first two games were drawn at home.
A fortnight ago, they held off a second-half fightback from Limerick to claim victory and they now have Offaly coming north.
Should all go well in Dunloy, the Saffrons will be through to their first All-Ireland senior quarter-final in more than four decades.
Why shouldn’t it go well?
Well, after a very comfortable league win in Limerick earlier this year, they went to Banagher and struggled to a 2-8 each draw after a dreadful first half.
To put this in context, it was the only league point secured by Offaly who would eventually be relegated to Division Two.
Offaly really struggled with Waterford a fortnight ago, eventually shipping a 2-27 to 1-9 defeat. Waterford beat Antrim by 0-15 to 1-7 in the league.
Antrim were poor in their two games in the Ulster championship. They survived the first, but lost by six points to Down in the final. There seemed to be little shape to their attack that day.
A fortnight ago that wasn’t the case. They dragged Limerick defenders out of position and then quickly switched play across to the open spaces that forwards such as Caitrín Dobbin, Róisín McCormick and Áine Magill enjoy.
Free-taking was also back on track and McCormick’s accuracy from the dead-ball during the last quarter took them over the line.
Defensively, Antrim haven’t been too bad this season although they did have to adapt to situations during the league run when certain players were unavailable.
The team’s short-comings were more to do with the quality of ball coming through to the attack.
In the continued absence of Lucia McNaughton and Shannon Graham, I don’t expect any changes from the team that faced Limerick and I cannot see Offaly being able to bring in any other players that can make a huge difference to how they have been setting up recently.
Antrim, therefore, should be able to plan to effectively negate the effectiveness of Siobhán Flannery and Sarah Harding, while the contribution of new player Becky Bryant (0-7, six frees) against Waterford will have been noted.
The Antrim management will have focussed more over the past fortnight on how to open space for their forwards.
This is a game that Antrim are expected to win, but it is a banana skin as well, as was demonstrated in the league encounter, where a few early scores put them in bother in the first half.
Waterford, the seeded team in the group, are playing well at the moment and should chalk up a second group victory. Their margin of victory will not be as comprehensive as it was against Offaly, but it should still be comfortable enough.
Verdict: Comfortable home wins for Antrim and Waterford
