All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Championship semi-final

Antrim v Clare

Saturday, Bord na Móna O’Connor Park, 3.30pm

By Kieran Lynch

ANTRIM boss Brian Kearney admits his side are heading into the unknown in their upcoming All-Ireland semi-final clash against Clare, but regardless of the result on Saturday, he’s positive that the team are heading in the right direction.

Three wins from four group phase games was enough to see Antrim through to face the Munster side, but Kearney, joint manager with Mark ‘Duck’ McFadden, admits his job won’t be easy this weekend, because he hasn’t seen too much of what Clare have to offer.

“We don’t know too much about them,” he conceded.

“It’s very tricky as a manager; but we’re just going out to give our best performance, and that’s all that we can do. That’s what we have instilled into the girls – go out and do your best, and we’ll take it from there.”

Antrim mightn’t know Clare very well, but if they do indeed progress through to the decider, they have recent history with both of the other two semi-finalists, as they defeated Cavan 1-13 to 2-9 in the Ulster Championship semi-final, but have been defeated twice by Armagh already in the championship.

However, comfortable wins over Roscommon, Down and Limerick have earned them their place in the last four, and Kearney is satisfied with how the team have improved as the year has gone on.

“It’s been a pretty good season, considering that we’re a relatively new team; this is our first year together,” said the Antrim manager of his side.

“I’m happy with the way that we have progressed; from the start of the year to this point, we have certainly improved.

“The girls have certainly been putting the hard work in, so we’re definitely heading in the right direction.”

When Antrim have been on-song this year they have put in excellent team performances, with a number of stars particularly excelling, such as joint-captains Emma Laverty and Maria McLarnon who inspire the rest of the squad, Dervla Cosgrove, who is a sharpshooter up front, and Megan McGarry, who has taken care of business in defence.

With a young squad, Antrim now head into the final four having exceeded expectations, and Kearney labelled his side as the underdog. That isn’t to say that they don’t have high expectations of themselves.

“Our aim with the junior team was to progress Antrim camogie, and improve these players,” said Kearney of their mindset. We’re probably going into this last four as the underdogs, because we haven’t been here before, or had this experience.

“But the girls have high expectations of themselves. They have put an onus on themselves to perform, and they’re looking to progress all the time, so there is pressure on them alright.”