THERE will be an All-Ireland senior camogie medal on view in a Down home this winter.
It might be in Portaferry if Galway win, or it could end up in Castlewellan.
If it is destined for the foot of the Ards, it will complete a collection alongside Junior and Intermediate awards while if it ends up in Castlewellan, the recipient will become the first Ulster player to claim consecutive All-Ireland senior titles since members of the Antrim three-in-a-row squad in the mid-1940s.
Down, of course, are not involved this Sunday but there is huge interest in the county as two former forwards go head-to-head with their adopted counties in the Croke Park showpiece.
Niamh Mallon and Sorcha McCartan were earmarked as talented players as they made their way through the county’s underage ranks.
Mallon picked up schools’ Allstars for both St Columba’s and Assumption, Ballynahinch while McCartan did the same in both camogie and football as a student in St Louis’, Kilkeel.
Both were fast-tracked into the Down senior panel. While still at school, Niamh Mallon was on the Down team that lost All-Ireland Junior finals to Waterford and Meath in 2011 and 2012 before captaining her county to victory against Laois in Croke Park in 2014.
She was on the Down team that lost the 2018 Intermediate final to Cork before being joined in the county team by McCartan. Together they helped Down lift that title in 2020 in Kingspan Breffni beating Antrim 4-16 to 2-10; Mallon scored 2-3 while McCartan contributed two points.
Six months later the pair top-scored in a 3-8 to 1-11 victory over the same opposition in the Division Two league final in Owenbeg, Mallon with 1-3 and McCartan with 1-4, her goal a wonder strike in the first half.
When Down played in the All-Ireland senior championship later that summer for the first time in over two decades, the two of them contributed most of the scores over their four games.
That was the last time they played together.
McCartan was based in Cork and finding the commute too much. She transferred to St Finbar’s and a few months later was called into the Cork senior squad.
The former Castlewellan player has featured for them in the past two All-Ireland finals, winning an O’Duffy Cup medal last August when she scored 1-1 in the final against Waterford. A fortnight ago she came off the bench to find the net against Dublin in this year’s semi-final.
Meanwhile, Mallon had also been commuting from her base in Galway since 2018. After helping Portaferry to first ever Down and Ulster club titles in 2021, she was appointed Down captain and led them to last year’s Ulster title.
Earlier this year, however, she transferred to the Connacht side and made her debut in the last quarter of the Division One league final in Croke Park when she contributed three points.
She was back in Croke Park last month as Galway overcame Waterford in the championship quarter-final and hit a goal and two points in UMPC Nowlan Park a fortnight ago to get her team over the line against Tipperary in the semi-final.
Three decades ago, the fathers of both girls were impressing on the inter-county scene in the Down colours.
Gregory McCartan was an Allstar and All-Ireland-winning midfielder with the footballers in 1994 while Martin Mallon collected three Ulster titles with Down hurlers in 1992, 1995 and 1997.
Mallon later managed Down senior hurlers and was part of the camogie management team that collected the All-Ireland Junior and Intermediate titles.
Their daughters, however, are the stars of the present and after a goal from each in the semi-finals, there is huge interest in their home county as Cork go for a 30th title and Galway a fifth.
Barring a draw either Portaferry or Castlewellan will toast an All-Ireland champion late on Sunday evening.