Victorious Loughiel
AIB Ulster Camogie Senior Club Championship
Clonduff 1-11 Loughgiel 2-15
ANTRIM’S Loughgeil Shamrocks emerged as the history makers with a fourth successive Ulster title, denying Down rivals Clonduff their own place in the record books in their first Ulster final.
Shamrocks’ Roísín McCormick was an outstanding Player of the Match and Loughgiel, down to 14 players late in the first half, now travel to Trim on Sunday, November 30 to play the winners of the Munster championship -either De La Salle, Waterford or Finbar’s, Cork being played on Saturday, November 22.
Roísín McCormick opened Loughgiel’s scoring account from a free earned by Caitrín Dobbin in under a minute of the start, whilst Katie McKillop slammed that account shut in second half injury time with a one on one goal that was emphatic about their determination to be crowned champions again.
In between, Clonduff came at the Shamrocks hard and were the benefactors of clean lifts and accurate hand passing that allowed them to hope, going a point ahead, before Loughgiel clawed them back just before the break.
The second half witnessed a shift in Clonduff’s fortunes and once Loughgiel got their nose out in front from two purple patches, you could see the Hilltowner’s chance slip away like sand through fingers. Roísín McCormick’s impeccable scoring of 1-10 earned her the Player of the Match and was a major factor in putting the trophy beyond Clonduff’s reach.
After a minutes silence in honour of the late Madeline Quinn, match referee Chris Hickson rolled in the sliotar after Loughgiel won the toss and opted to play the first half towards the scoreboard end in the Athletic Grounds.
A long ground ball out of the throw in from Loughgiel’s Amy Boyle found Caitrín Dobbin and attracting a foul, seen free taker McCormick float her first point over Clonduff’s bar.
Clonduff would reply with their first point from Paula O’Hagan, derived from a chain of passes on the dugout side after a hard won ground ball but McCormick nudged the Shamrocks ahead again from her own won foul and free with five minutes on the clock.
In less than two minutes, Clonduff shook Loughgiel with an early goal that deflected off the outreached stick of Cassie Fitzpatrick from an O’Hagan free, but Clonduff’s lead was neutralised a minute later as an alert Annie Lynn pinched a loose ball out of the air along the sideline and delivered that cleverly to a breaking McCormick that took the direct route to Clonduff’s goals, outpacing her markers for Loughgiel’s first goal.
The Shamrocks would have to bear the weight for the next five minutes or so from Clonduff’s physicality around Loughgiel’s defence but a series of Loughgiel frees amounted to little as the Hilltowners broke down any advance.
On the 13th minute, McCormick landed her third point from a Marie Laverty foul but Clonduff’s O’Hagan replied with her free to close the gap to just one point, Clonduff 1-02 Loughgiel 1-03. However, McCormick enjoyed a further reply from a Ciara Laverty pass that setup the Shamrock for her only point from play.
Once again, the game lapsed into a sequence of fouls with no advance from either side on the scoreboard, until Clonduff found Loughgiel’s catch net three times, twice from O’Hagan and a played advantage from Cassie Fitzpatrick to take the lead by one point.
Player of the Match Roísín McCormick
It could have been four as a long ground ball from a sideline ripped up through the mid field to Clonduff’s O’Hagan who drifted that wide after the pick up.
Loughgiel did have their chances though, weaved in between those points, as Dobbin offloaded with a hand pass to a running Katie McKillop who just couldn’t connect with the heavy pass and had to make do with a ground pull that was blocked by Clonduff’s Fionnuala Carr.
Loughgiel bounced back with another threat to goal after a long puck out from Emma McAllister that was batted on by Annie Lynn to Katie McKillop. McKillop sensed a hook incoming and opted for the underhand lob that ran out of steam, landing dangerously at the feet of Clodagh Kelly who tipped it out for the 45.
McCormick added that to her tally along with another free just ahead of the whistle, which Hickson eventually blew leaving scores on the large scoreboard announcing Clonduff 1-05 Loughgiel 1-06.
At the restart, Loughgiel drew down their first purple patch as they amassed three points on the trot from Lynn, McCormick and Marie Laverty before Clonduff recycled a free by Sara Louise Graffin and topped that with a fine point from play.
Clonduff though will regret the bravery shown by Loughgiel’s goalkeeper, Emma McAllister, as she ran out to diffuse a real threat from Ellen Shields at close quarters from a Graffin kicked-on sliotar.
Loughgiel’s McKillop fashioned a score over the bar from another Marie Laverty pass just before Clonduff’s O’Hagan slotted two more frees into the catch net.
Those scores brought Clonduff back into the game but could not have foreseen how easily the Shamrocks took control for their second purple patch with five scores in a row, three frees from McCormick and Anna Connolly and McKillop tipping sliotars over from close range.
Clonduff now found themselves six behind with twenty five gone in the second half and within two minutes, O’Hagan fired over two frees to make that four the difference before Katie McKillop did the unthinkable from a solo run stamped with a point all over it.
McCormick fed in a clever sliotar down the dugout line to McKillop from a free until her range to goal became too good to be true with a slam into the net past Clonduff’s Kelly, up went the green flag to pull down the shutters and declare the Ulster business as done.
Match report and photos from Michael Corcoran at the Box-IT Athletic Stadium, Armagh
