CAVAN and holders Down will contest this year’s Intermediate decider on Sunday, 3.30pm.
Cavan are riding high at the moment. They enjoyed a brilliant league campaign, winning six of their seven games and securing the Division 3 title with a 2-10 to 0-9 win over Wexford. One of their six victories was against Down – however this was back in round two in early February.
A fortnight ago, the Breffni side played Monaghan in the TG4 Ulster semi-final, and looked impressive.
After a slow start, where they missed a penalty, they found their rhythm and went on to win by four points.
Captain Shauna Lynch was awesome at centre back and kick started their revival with a goal. Up front they were immense. Lauren Mc Veety fired over five points and corner forward Aisling Gilsenan contributed 1-7.
While only scoring a point, the highly experienced Aishling Sheridan caused all sorts of problems with her intelligent runs. Cavan blew Monaghan away and finished the last quarter of the game with nine (1-8) unanswered scores.
Down have also been in fine form and have a fitness level to match any team in the country. Their league campaign was reasonable winning four, drawing one and losing two. One of their defeats, as mentioned earlier, was a 13 loss to Cavan however that was 13 weeks ago and is long since forgotten about.
The Mourne girls are the holders and will not want to surrender that title. In the semi-final they played Tyrone, who had operated in Division 1 of the league, and were favourites ahead of the game.
While Down trailed by three points at the break, the match finished level. However in extra time Down won it, 2-10 to 1-12.
The hero on the day was Eimear Fitzpatrick. The Burren star hit 1-5, including the winning point. Substitute Shanna Fettes also scored an important goal while in midfield former captain Megan Doherty was immense. Down have a very experienced team with most of last year’s winning side still involved.
VERDICT: This is a hard one to call. Both had impressive semi-final wins so don’t be surprised if it finishes all square.
