ANTRIM camogs can make it three wins from three this weekend when they play Galway in the Division Two quarter-final of the National League.

For Saffron camogie star Lucia McNaughton, the game is a chance to progress and that is welcome, but she can see the bigger picture of being allowed to be out and playing after spending winter locked up because of the Covid-19 restrictions.

McNaughton said: “This is a game we want to win and we need to win if we want to progress through the leagues.

“I am really enjoying being back and playing. This is the light at the end of the tunnel that we were looking at in the winter. We are lucky we are able to be playing. We did a lot of Zooms, and they were good, but it is great to be out and be social with the girls.

“I am really enjoying being able to back and being able to be social.”

Antrim beat Down and then defeated Derry in their first two games of the National League. After reaching last year’s Intermediate final and losing to Down, it seems the Saffrons have improved.

“We upped it after beating Down (in the league). The nerves of playing the first match, especially against the All-Ireland champions, probably got to us. But we ground out a good win with work-rate. It was a better day and we were maybe better suited to it because of the weather.

“We had been training hard for them and we were happy to get the wins. We were able to push on a wee bit more when we have got them under our belt.”

McNaughton said that they still want to push on, and to keep improving in the league. They play Galway this weekend, and they hope to get another performance. Based on how they have played so far we can expect them to get that. One of the reasons for their good form has been competition for places. McNaughton said that intensity at training has increased as more players fight for their positions.

“I think it is great. For a lot of years there wasn’t a lot of competition to get on the team. We did struggle to get numbers but in the past few years it has been brilliant. The training intensity has increased because you have to try and show off and prove you are good enough to get onto the team. That makes everyone better.

“People are really committed to try and get their place. You have to try harder to get on the team.”

McNaughton has set herself a few goals to improve on. She wants to play well in every game.

“Being able to catch better, I always try to get better at that. I always just try to work as hard as I can, and bring as much as possible. I wouldn’t be one who scores all the time but as long as I can get it in there that is important. So high catching and striking were a few of the goals that I picked to work on.”

Last year the season was quite short. The intercounty campaign ran for about two months because of breaks in the season due to Covid-19. That didn’t give the Antrim management team much time to work on their system of play.

This year, things have been planned better.

“We never had a lot of time for training and tactics. This year we are thinking more about the team and play to the strengths of the teams, especially because of the different player. The game is changing a lot and how we set up depends on who we are playing.

“This weekend we will have to see how Galway will set up and we will make changes accordingly.”

OPTIMISM… Lucia McNaughton says the Saffron camogs are feeling goodBy John McIlwaine