IT has not been all plain sailing for Warrenpoint ladies this season, but St Peter’s have turned it around and are now days away from their first provincial championship final.
They will face Downings in the Ulster junior decider on Saturday (Kildress, 1.30pm).
A first-ever Down county title looked quite far away in the early months of the season admits captain Katie Howlett, who did not think she and her team-mates would still be training the middle of November.
“To be honest, no, our season started off slow, gaining momentum as every game passed,” she said.
“Securing our position in Division Two was a turning point for us as a group. Having many younger girls gave great life to the team which has led to us now enjoying training late into the year and experiencing an
Ulster final.”
Part of the key to reaching this weekend’s final following wins over Antrim’s Lámh Dhearg in the quarter-final and Aughnamullen of Monaghan in the semi-final was simply going out and enjoying their football, said Howlett, who was part of the Down senior team who won the Ulster intermediate championship this year.
“We are over the moon to finally win our first-ever junior championship as a senior ladies’ team and to get into an Ulster final was a bonus,” she added.
“Setting out in Ulster we didn’t know what to expect from other counties so our main goal as a team was just to go out and have fun playing the sport we all love and to play football how we know it.”
While it has been fun though, there have been learnings and experienced gained along the way which Warrenpoint will hope to use to their advantage against Downings – as well as clearly having talented footballers in the ranks.
“Every match is a learning experience for both your team and yourself, we hope that we can learn from our mistakes in previous matches,” she added.
“However, it’s hard to anticipate in Ulster what strengths the opposition that you are facing has. We don’t know a lot about Downings; at this current time we are just trying to focus on training and how, as a team, we can fully prepare ourselves for Saturday’s match.
“To win an Ulster medal would be a real ‘pinch me’ moment. To get into an Ulster final is a huge achievement in itself, but to be able to have the chance and to go the
extra mile is an achievement I would struggle to put into words. It would mean everything.
“The progress of the team has created a great buzz around the girls’ underage teams.
“If the only outcome from Saturday is our club gains more playing
female members, I believe that would be an achievement too.”
