ALL-IRELAND JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
SEMI-FINAL

Antrim v Carlow

Sunday, Lannleire, 1.30pm

By Niall Gartland

ANTRIM ladies boss Emma Kelly says that they simply must avoid complacency seeping in if they’re to get the better of Carlow in Sunday’s All-Ireland Junior Championship semi-final.

The Saffrons claimed two wins over Carlow when they met last year, but that doesn’t tell the full story as both games went to extra-time and there have been changes of personnel this season.

Players like Niamh Enright, Ciara Brown and Maeve Blayney aren’t available for Antrim, while Carlow are without the services of Cliodhna Ní Shé, who finished as the top scorer in last year’s championship.

That said, both teams are going extremely well and Kelly says Antrim can’t assume that they’ll book their place in the final for the second year running (they lost last year’s decider to Wicklow).

“It’s a must-win game for us, we really don’t want to be in the Junior ranks next year with Down and Sligo getting relegated from Intermediate, so hopefully we’ll push on this weekend.

“It’ll be nice to play Carlow again, we haven’t played them this year. We met them twice last year, those games were also in Lannleire and they went to extra-time so it’ll take a big 60 minutes from us.”

Group stage wins over Limerick and New York assured Antrim of their place in the last four. They were unhappy that they weren’t able to come to a compromise with Limerick over the scheduling of that particular game so it was an especially sweet victory on the road.

“That was a tough game but it was great to go down and get the win, it was a tough place to go and they never help things either.

“We didn’t know what to expect from New York but once things settled we pushed on.

“The camp is really competitive at the moment, we’ve a few injury doubts but we also have three or four girls on the subs who are pushing hard for a starting berth. It’ll be Friday or Saturday before we pick our team.”