Antrim 3-10
Clare 1-11

NICOLE McAtamney had her two sons, Joe and Dan, with her as the celebrations commenced, but when it came to the post-match interviews, wee Joe had to be transferred to her husband, Declan.

It was appropriate that they, and many others, were on hand as McAtamney produced an imperious performance from the middle of the field as Antrim edged out senior side Clare to win the Very Camogie League Division 1B title at the NGDC in Abbotstown on Saturday.

Joint manager, Carl McCormick hit the nail on the head when explaining why.

“We’ve one mammy on the team, she gets player of the match. She’s two children but she’s always there,” McCormick noted. “I’m delighted for her and her family; that whole support network that’s required to be always at training.”

It applies to any high performance athlete, but when you have too young children, you can multiply that by whatever you like.

McAtamney forms a brilliant partnership with team captain, Amy Boyle, and she was central to the quick start that put Antrim on their way, providing assists for the first two points in under two minutes.

Two goals from Caitrín Dobbin and another by Katie Molloy gave the Ulster side a two-point interval lead into the wind and they just kept Clare at arm’s length to secure a famous victory.

John Carmody’s squad gave it a real go in the second half, with the likes of Niamh Mulqueen and substitute Jennifer Daly excelling and they drew level by the end of the third quarter but the experienced McAtamney provided invaluable leadership, while Róisín McCormick shot three big points to help Antrim pull

“Whenever you get a bit older, you’re out a couple of years, that can become your job but there’s loads of girls that can do the same job as I can. It was good to be a leader today and it paid off,” said McAtamney.

“We go by (the tenet), you’re only as good as your last game, and whenever you look at the bench that we have, we have a very good bench out there and you never know what the team is going to be.

“When the team was read out and they got to midfield, there was a lump in my throat. I didn’t know, was I on? Was I off? You never know who’s gonna start. It’s obviously not a bad thing and something we find is a massive strength for us, our bench and the players that come on and change a game every single time.

McCormick and Martin Coulter took over in trying circumstances last year and with lots of players unavailable, Antrim were relegated from senior to intermediate in the championship.

They have resumed in far stronger shape, however, and grown through the League, and McCormick thought only of the players in the moments after the final whistle.

“I’m over the moon, particularly for the set of girls that went through the ringer last year,” said McCormick. “No numbers, no morale. Hung in there, hung in there and the new year has brought new resolutions and new focus.

“We’re overwhelmed with what has happened here today. At the start of the year, we’d a good squad, we knew we’d a good squad but you’re never sure how girls will gel again and they have. It’s been superb. Club rivalries have been set aside and we’ve worked very hard.

“We’ve a super squad of 29 girls and they’re always pushing each other on and I’m delighted for them.”

McCormick and Coulter used most that panel through the League and the co-manager acknowledged that there would be plenty of them disappointed not to get on the pitch for this famous day.

It is though, an indication of the strides in the county, with minors and U16s going well too. Mol an óige is a key element of the senior set-up too.

“The half-back line was two 19-year-olds and an 18-year-old so there’s serious youth coming through and there’s a sprinkling of experience as well and you can’t do without the experienced girls either.”

“I’m delighted for the girls. Sometimes you don’t get your rewards. You work hard and don’t get the win. They’re no different from the Clare ladies, they put in the same effort but on the day we took our goals well in the first half and that gave us the platform.”

Boyle referred to the confidence gained from reeling in a seven-point deficit in the opening game against Wexford as crucial.

“I think we all knew after the first match against Wexford that we had our chances,” Boyle stated. “We knew today was gonna be a tough match and that’s what it was but all the subs made an impact and we were just glad to get over the line.

“We took a lot of confidence out of our matches in the round-robin. We were playing a lot of senior teams so we knew what we had within the team. You have to come out and attack these matches.”

This is not the end of a journey though, McAtamney was keen to emphasise.

“Once you get a taste of it you just want to keep going. Obviously you can never win enough. We’ve went with the idea of not losing all year and hopefully we can keep that mentality going into the Ulster Championship, with two big opponents, Down and Derry.

“We’ve that to look forward to and then the (All-Ireland Intermediate) Championship.”

SCORERS FOR ANTRIM: C Dobbin 2-1; K Molloy 1-1; C McArthur, R McCormick (2fs) 0-3 each; D Cosgrove (f), E Martin 0-1 each

SCORERS FOR CLARE: Z Spillane 0-5(fs); E Casey 1-1; C Carmody, A Anderson, J Daly, C Cahill, A Cooney 0-1 each

ANTRIM: C Graham, C McKillop, K Lynn, C McNaughton, E Coulter, S O’Neill, S Heggarty, A Boyle, N McAtamney, M Kelly, R McCormick, D Cosgrove, C McArthur, K Molloy, C Dobbin.
Subs: L McNaughton for Dobbin (37), E Martin for Kelly (51), E Johnston for Cosgrove (57), J McIntosh for Heggarty (60+1)

CLARE: R Daly, S Daly, M Powell, C Queally, L Daly, A Walsh, C Hehir, N Mulqueen, G Carmody, A Anderson, C Carmody, Á O’Loughlin, C Cahill, E Casey, Z Spillane.
Subs: J Daly for Powell (27), S O’Keeffe for Queally (HT), M Hanrahan for Walsh (HT); A Cooney for Casey (44), H M Neylon for C Carmody (57)

REFEREE: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)