AIB Ulster Senior Ladies’ Club Championship Final
Clann Eireann v Lurgan
(SUNDAY, O’Neills’ Healy Park, 3pm)
CLANN Eireann captain Niamh Henderson says that winning the Ulster title, before they achieved that last year, had never looked so far away, as they now look to defend their title against Cavan champions Lurgan on Sunday (O’Neill’s Healy Park, Omagh, 3pm).
A year ago, they defeated Bredagh in the final, their first appearance in a senior decider, after struggling for many years to even get past the quarter-final stages, and watched as Donaghmoyne dominated the provincial club scene with Termon and St Macartan’s managing to dethrone the Monaghan giants on just a number of occasions.
“Before we won our first Ulster last year we just felt like it was so far away from us. We were looking at Donaghmoyne and it just seemed like they were head and shoulders above us and now to be going for a back-to-back Ulster, it just shows you how the times can change,|” said Henderson.
“We have built up that confidence in ourselves and we are building as a team year on, especially with the younger players coming through, all the leaders on the team too and the experience that we have there. For years we just looked at Donaghmoyne and wanted what they had so it’s great to have the opportunity to get a glimpse of what they have achieved.”
As defending Ulster champions, it’s natural to want to defend that title and that is among the targets set at the start of the year, not to belittle the Armagh championship as they knew only too well that they had to successfully defend that title first to even get an attempt at Ulster.
“Ultimately our goal is to win the Ulster again this year, but I think we just took it in stages, from our first game in the Armagh championship, that was the first goal to win it, and then we moved to the next game and the next game and I think we are just taking it in stages, like climbing a mountain,” said Henderson.
“It’s important to look at the next game in front of you but we also always had the hope of getting to another Ulster final and thankfully we are there again through a lot of hard work and dedication and we are delighted to be back in an Ulster final.”
There is huge excitement and opportunity at being in back-to-back Ulster finals, something that Henderson knows they are lucky to experience and she has been reminding her team-mates of that in training this week as they count down these final few days.
“To get to the Ulster final and to have the opportunity to defend that again is great and I was saying to the girls at training this week just be really grateful to have the opportunity to still be playing football at this time of the year.”
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Lurgan stand in their way of becoming just the fourth team to achieve back-to-back titles and while Clann Eireann will be favourites on Sunday, Henderson is only too aware they are there to be knocked off the top, the result is far from guaranteed and they know that Lurgan will hold no fear of them.
I think it’s really important not to be complacent. I think being confident is a completely different thing and I think we are confident but definitely not complacent.
“It takes a lot for any team to get into an Ulster final and obviously Lurgan have earned their place there and that means that they are going to be a great team and are going to put it up to us and that means we just have to stick to our game plan, work really hard and hopefully that will be enough to get us over the line.”
The underdogs tag, however, has been one that Lurgan have paid absolutely no heed to on their championship campaign this year.
They were underdogs in the Cavan final against Crosserlough but they came out on top. They were underdogs in the Ulster semi-final against Termon, who had looked very strong in their quarter-final win over St Macartan’s, but once more they tore up the formbook to defeat the Donegal champions in fashionable style and book their place in a first ever Ulster senior club championship final.
Their opponents, defending champions Clann Eireann, know only too well what it is like to reach the showpiece decider in the provincial club calendar, having been in the same position this time last year. The champions will start as favourites, meaning, once more Lurgan are the underdogs but as captain Eimear Corcoran says, they really do not care and they are relishing the opportunity and the occasion. It is a lot to handle on such an historic occasion and getting the balance, of enjoying the build-up but still preparing for the final, a game that you want to win, is important.
“It is a first for our club, so we are feeling very proud to get to this position. The community have really gotten behind us and are being so supportive. The build-up is really enjoyable. We have nothing to lose going into this final, the pressure is off we can just play football and enjoy the game as best we can,” said Corcoran.
“Our management have really been stressing to us that it is so important to try and enjoy this occasion. We don’t want us to pass us by. It’s a little bit of history for our club and we’ll look back on this for years to come.”
Corcoran admits they did not think they would be in an Ulster final in the middle of November when they started out on their championship campaign back in the summer, primarily because Cavan is such a competitive competition.
“We definitely weren’t thinking about being in an Ulster final when we started our championship prep this year because the competition in Cavan is far too tight to consider this.
“If you take your eye off it, another Cavan team would have beaten us. It was such as relief to win the county final. That was our goal and now it feels as if we are in bonus territory. We’ll keep going as far as we possibly can.”
It might be bonus territory but at the same time, having come through county championship rounds and then provincial quarter and semi-finals, there is the realisation too that they have earned their place in the final and there is no reason why they cannot win it and after their performance against Termon in the semi-final their self-belief has jumped up a few levels.
I don’t think we expected to play as well as we did [against Termon]. We all gelled really well as a team and managed to step our play up a gear. It certainly has given us a confidence boost. I think it has shown us that we can trust the system that we have in place and shouldn’t try to adapt too much to suit other teams. We know, however, that Clann Eireann are going to bring an extremely tough game to us so we have to be ready for that.
“We do believe we are good enough to win and have every right to be in this final. With some of the experience that our minors have, a lot of the girls have played in even bigger games. Our younger girls definitely support everyone else to have that belief in ourselves and not to fear bigger teams who are used to playing at this level.”