AIB Ulster Club Ladies’ SFC preliminary round
Emyvale (Monaghan) v Clann Eireann (Armagh) (Sunday, Emyvale, 2pm)
ULSTER champions Clann Eireann will begin the defence of their title with a tough away assignment to Emyvale on Sunday afternoon.
It’s new territory for the Monaghan champions, who won their first senior county title last month, defeating Magheracloone in the final, the first decider in 22 years not to feature Donaghmoyne.
Clann Eireann successfully defended their Armagh crown last month as well, making it three in-a-row with victory over Carrickcruppen, but this one was different as they also put their provincial title on the line.
With the county championship successfully negotiated, attention is now fully on Ulster, an extremely competitive competition with several of the county champions real title contenders.
Clann Eireann are up there as number one and while the ultimate goal is to retain the title, which they won for the first time last year, defeating Bredagh in the final, getting carried away is not an option according to Clodagh McCambridge.
“It’s only after the county final you start looking to the Ulster championship. It’s a brilliant competition, we’re competing against the best and there are no bad teams at this stage, and we know from last year just how tough it is to win each game,” said the defender.
“We had that belief in ourselves last year, and it’ll still be there this year, but because of that quality of opposition at each stage, you really can’t take any game for granted, so we’re fully focused on the huge challenge that we face this weekend before anything else.”
McCambridge is fully aware that, while this might be Emyvale’s first taste of the senior competition in Ulster, they were intermediate All-Ireland champions back in 2008. That team featured the likes of Ciara and Aoife McAnespie, Grainne and Therese McNally, Catriona McKenna, and Nicola Fahy, who are all still playing.
“They’re obviously a resilient group to keep coming back each year, and I know they haven’t been too far away from Donaghmoyne in previous years,’' adds McCambridge.
‘‘They have a brilliant group of players there, with a lot of experience and we know Monaghan club football is a class standard, so it’ll definitely be a big challenge for us.”
Last year’s experience of knowing what it takes to go the whole way in the competition will give Gregory McGonigle’s side an immediate advantage as will the confidence and the belief that has come from the success of 12 months ago.
“We’re delighted to have come out of the Armagh championship and to get the opportunity to compete in Ulster again,’' adds McCambridge.
“We were lucky enough to have had a really positive year in Ulster last year, and we can take a lot of confidence from that, but we’re preparing for our first game in the same way that we would have last year, so it doesn’t feel too different in that sense.”
