THE first senior county finals take place this weekend with Eglish odds-on favourites to retain their Tyrone title when they face Derrylaughan in Derrytresk on Sunday.
Last year, Naomh Treasa, Dungannon took them to a replay in an effort to dislodge them from the elevated position they have held for nearly three decades.
The extra game benefitted Eglish in their preparation for the next stage, with Dungannon left to wonder about what might have been.
Derrylaughan were intermediate champions last year and reached the Ulster final in their category. However, Eglish are a seasoned outfit and the return to fitness of Ciara Geoghegan after the birth of her child last year should tilt the pendulum in favour of the holders.
Meanwhile, there simply is no real formbook for the Teamkit Antrim senior camogie championship! Just take the head-to-heads between the three teams left in the title-race.
Cushendall led holders Loughgiel into injury-time before conceding a free that Róisín McCormick pointed to rescue a draw for the holders.
The following week, the ‘Dall went out against Dunloy and were 1-16 to 1-1 down at half-time. Then in the next round a fortnight ago, Dunloy hit the opening three points against Loughgiel before shipping a 6-10 to 0-8 defeat.
Neither Cushendall when they faced Dunloy nor Dunloy when they were playing Loughgiel are quite as bad as the scorelines suggest. But can those results be overturned to stop Loughgiel claiming their 11th straight victory next month?
The semi-final tomorrow presents a huge challenge for Cushendall. They won both the minor and U16 titles in recent weeks. Two from the U16 team – Eva McNeill and Amy McAlister – as well as minors Kady McNeill, Laura Black and Orlaith McAlister are likely to feature in the senior game. That makes the seasiders decidedly young.
Dunloy are also young with an average age of 21, but somewhat more experienced than their opponents. The emphatic scoreline from the game in the group stages will have left a scar.
Cushendall shouldn’t lose the semi-final by as much as 2-17 to 1-6 (the result from the league game),but it would be a huge surprise if they make it through to face Loughgiel.
In Down, Ballyholland are enjoying a good run, but that is likely to come to an end this weekend. They face last year’s beaten finalists Ballygalget with a semi-final against Clonduff the prize for the winner.
Ballygalget had one serious challenge in the group stages; they lost narrowly to Portaferry back at the end of August. An improving Ballyholland wouldn’t be the same level of opposition, though, and it is fair to expect next weekend’s semi-finals to read: Liatroim v Portaferry and Clonduff v Ballygalget.
