ALL-IRELAND CAMOGIE

INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIp

Down v Laois

Saturday, Donaghmore Ashbourne, 2pm

DOWN camogie boss Derek Dunne knows that the pieces are in place for an all-out assault on the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship.

He’s been involved for three years now – in 2018 as skills coach, in 2019 as assistant manager and now as standalone manager, and he’s seen the team come agonisingly close to making the breakthrough at All-Ireland level.

Dunne is so confident in the team he was actually disappointed that it was decided just the other week that the Corks and Kilkennys of this world aren’t allowed to field a second team due to the pandemic as he felt they could compete with any of them.

They were initially meant to play Kilkenny last weekend but the championship was redrawn and they’ve been pitted against his native Laois instead, and they’ll be quietly confident of going all the way in this year’s championship having reached the final in 2018.

“It hasn’t been a straightforward season but when the club championships started in Down we shut everything down and it gave me a bit of time to watch club games and I thought it was very beneficial.

“We started back up the Tuesday after the county final and pulled in a panel of 37 or 38 girls. We have a second team this year and they won the Ulster Junior Championship.

“It was disappointing when the camogie championship was redrawn as I personally felt we were good enough to compete with any one of them. We played Galway in a practice match three weeks ago and they beat us by a point even though we ran our bench in the last 15 minutes.

“We’d been relishing the challenge of Kilkenny coming up here to play us, there’s a lot of talent so that was disappointing.”

Down already have a victory in this year’s championship under their belt as they beat their Ulster rivals Derry a fortnight ago. Niamh Mallon returned from injury to score 1-4 and Dunne says the Portaferry star has been freed up by a positional tweak.

“Niamh is back to full fitness and we have her playing a different type of role along with Sara Louise Carr. Usually we try to get the ball up to them but they might have two or three girls hanging off them so we’ve changed things and they’re running onto the ball now.”

Dunne, who first became involved with Down camogie through his partner Fionnuala, says a number of seriously talented younger girls are ripping up trees at the moment.

“Lauren Clarke has been a phenomenal find for us. She was a girl lacking in confidence but she got a run in our second team, and she’s potentially the best player in the county. Clara Cowan from Clonduff is another 18 or 19 year-old, and Rhya Smith started against Derry as well. Erin Rafferty came off the bench and we had about eight different starters from last year.”

Down are playing Laois for a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals, while the losers will get a second bite of the cherry in a quarter-final clash. Dunne admits it was a slightly surreal experience when he first came up against Laois given that it’s his native county.

“The first year I was involved we needed to beat them to get to the All-Ireland semi-final, and while we won it was a tough match. I remember having to think twice when I saw the blue and white at the start of the game.

“Last year I was managing my home club and they were training on the pitch opposite me, but I don’t know as much about them this year. They’ve brought in seven of last year’s minor team and four of this year’s minor team and racked up a good score when they beat Kildare, but Kildare wouldn”t really be one of the better teams.”

By Niall Gartland

ALL-IRELAND INTERMEDIATE CAMOGIE CHAMPIONSHIP

Antrim v Meath

Saturday, Inniskeen, 2pm

THE Antrim camogs are actually unbeaten this season, but their joint-manager Jim McKernan knows they face their toughest test yet in this weekend’s All-Ireland Intermediate Championship group stage clash against Meath.

The Saffrons had already qualified for the semi-finals of the Division Two league before the pandemic struck, and they got up and running in the Intermediate championship with victory over Carlow a fortnight ago (a match which unfortunately made the headlines for the wrong reasons as Carlow refused to travel across the border and the match was played in Inniskeen instead).

Meath are no mugs, however, and were also unbeaten in their section of the league before the action was called to the halt, and they were very impressive in their opening day championship win over Kerry.

Jim McKernan, who not for the first time has teamed up with Paul McKillen, knows it won’t be easy but there’s a big prize at stake as the winners progress to the semis.

“We were a bit rusty against Carlow but we were only back two weeks and had one training session under our belts, and the intervention with travelling was a bit of a distraction.

“We put it behind us and got the win and we’re hoping to continue progressing. They’re a young team and they’re learning and this match will be a different ball-game. Meath are a top outfit, they beat Cork in the league but we’re very focused and will see how we get on.”

The Saffrons have a really strong panel with particularly healthy representation from Loughgiel, who recently won their seventh senior championship title in a row.

Loughgiel’s Maeve Connolly captains the team while Roisin McCormack is one of the best young players about.

That’s not to mention the likes of Amy Boyle and Caitrin Dobbin, while there are other excellent players on the team like vice-captain Niamh Donnelly and Nicole O’Neill, both of whom play for Ballycastle, and Chloe Drain, who is a real colossus. Katie McAleese, who was possibly their best player during the league, is unavailable as she is pregnant.

McKernan is a Sarsfields man, but he’s the only Belfast representation of any sort on the panel, but they’re going about things the right way and he hopes that the influx of talented young players is a sign of things to come.

“In past years club politics has had a bit of a bearing on things but this season everyone’s on board. They’re only young and they’re training well and I think in years to come they can have a lot of success.”