DOWN camogs’ relegation play-off is a very important game for the county.

I think it would be really unfair on them if they got relegated. This year they were beat by a point against Waterford, and could have won the game. They held Cork to six points. They were beaten by Dublin after leading the whole game bar the last seven minutes, and they could have got a draw out of it. All those very fine margins add up yet now they find themselves in a relegation match.

If Down go back to the second tier then it would lead to a lot of change in personnel. I don’t know if that would be good for Down camogie, so it is a crucial game.

Last weekend’s loss to Offaly has led to this situation. The result did not surprise me because Down have moved up from senior but what did surprise me was the scoreline (5-12 to 1-16).

When you are playing teams like Offaly, who have been competing in senior for a few years, there is a difference in standard. I do think that Down, for large periods, were the better team. They just conceded bad goals at bad times.

One of their failings this year has been that they don’t create any goal chances themselves.

Down went five one up and were on top, then they started to lose ball round the middle and then weren’t really tracking runners round the middle. Offaly got two goals in the first half and went in at half time ahead even though they hadn’t really played the best camogie. Psychologically that was a big thing for Down, particularly after they were beaten by Dublin when they shouldn’t have been. They could have won that game too.

They were missing Karen McMullan which is a huge loss in the back line. She plays a holding role. That left Down exposed in the middle. With Karen missing it left a young defence as well and they just didn’t plug the gaps.

When they came back in the second half, they got it back again and were on top but conceded a goal, and then another bad goal from a puck-out. The goals contributed to their downfall which was tough for the girls.

But they have another chance and they need to go and regroup and make sure that they give a performance against Westmeath. Hopefully they will have Karen and Catherine Rocks back as that will shore up the defence.

Down still scored 1-17 against Offaly so that was a decent scoreline at senior level, so they have the ingredients and it is just putting them all together.

In general, it is a big weekend for Ulster camogie. Camogie this year has been really entertaining. Antrim and Derry are into the quarter-finals. I always think Derry are a good team. They always have good players even though they have not competed the way they would have liked in the past few years. They have a lot of experience in their team.

I think they should be one of the favourites for the All-Ireland. Down have played Derry in the last couple of years. Down were the strongest team, yet it is always a great game when they play Derry. They have Louise Dougan and Shannon Graham back and they add so much. They were there a few years ago, but I don’t think that they had the training done.

This time they are in an All-Ireland quarter-final, and they probably aren’t under pressure.

If Antrim and Derry avoid each other then it could be an Antrim-Derry Intermediate final. Antrim’s forwards are so good that I think they will beat Kerry. And imagine if they get through then there could potentially be two Ulster teams playing at senior level.