IT has been another successful season for Ulster camogie teams and that makes the selection of the Irish News Allstar team all the more difficult.
We had two teams, Down and Antrim, playing at senior level in league and championship and both retained that status for next season, while Derry recovered from last year’s All-Ireland Intermediate semi-final defeat by Cork to reach Croke Park and, at time of writing, are preparing for a replay with Meath.
A few of Antrim’s second team, winners of the All-Ireland Junior championship last year, were promoted to the senior panel, but the inclusion of a number of the successful minor teams of last year has kept them competitive. They narrowly lost a league final to Clare and collected the Ulster Intermediate crown.
Clare knocked both Cavan and Armagh out of the All-Ireland Junior championship and then went on to win the title. Cavan, though, managed to retain their place in Division Two league while Armagh lost their league final by a point to Carlow and Tyrone lifted the Division Four league title.
You can easily compare that level of performance to a few years ago when few counties were involved in the latter stages of competition.
Camogie, particularly at the top level, is becoming more like hurling and football in that team formations and positions change from game to game. We saw Down play a number of games for example with five or fewer forwards, while a number of their players wore a series of numbers between 5 and 12.
It is also difficult to compare the levels of achievements of players across the counties to find a team of the year. Even at senior level, it is hard to assess whether Down or Antrim achieved more this year.
The Saffrons, on the one hand, beat Down in the opening league game and qualified for their first All-Ireland senior quarter-final in 41 seasons. But Down convincingly beat them in the Ulster final and I doubt if Antrim, with a growing injury list, would have fared any better if they had been given Down’s championship pathway.
Had the team been selected at the end of the league, it is probable that Lucia McNaughton and Beth Fitzpatrick would have been shoo-ins. But both missed the championship while others such as Lauren Clarke, Katie McKillop and many of the Derry players improved significantly as the season progressed.
Goalkeeper is the first difficult call. While the Graham sisters have yet again been solid for Antrim, my selection has come down to Catherine McGourty or Niamh Gribbin.
The latter only took over between the Derry posts after a mid-season injury to long-term net-minder Niamh McQuillan. In her first six games (the Ulster semi-final and five in the All-Ireland Intermediate championship) Derry won five, lost one and Gribbin conceded just one goal.
McGourty, though, played six championship games at a higher level and these included ties against All-Ireland champions Cork and league winners Galway. Down won just two and lost four, yet conceded only six goals. McGourty’s ability to organise her defence in each game was a huge plus and she gets my nod for No 1.
Another Down player Dearbhla Magee, has to be included in defence for the fourth successive selection. She had a superb season, capped by Player of the Match in the Ulster final.
In the corners, I have gone for two terriers who gave their direct opponents little space – Colleen Patterson and Niamh Quinn although Sinéad McGill came very close as well with her performances throughout the year.
The half-back line is very difficult to choose. Antrim’s Caoimhe Conlon, Derry pair Aoife Ní Chaiside and Lauren McKenna and Down’s Deirbhile Savage are the top candidates for me (with Derry’s other half-back Rachel Downey not far off the mark). In the end, Deirbhile misses out.
Down changed their midfield pairing as the season progressed and the player to finish strongest was Lauren Clarke, who is in the short list for one of the forward positions. Amy Boyle and Dervla O’Kane always had that high work-rate necessary for midfield, while Clare McGilligan’s consistency also puts her in the frame.
A hard choice, but I have gone for Amy Boyle and Lauren Clarke.
Up front, the consistency of Niamh Mallon, Sarah Louise Graffin, Áine McAllister, Aoife Shaw and Caitrín Dobbin was impressive from the start to the finish of the season.
Last year’s Player of the Year, Róisín McCormick was held in a couple of games, but at other times she took the game by the scruff of the neck and dragged Antrim over the line.
This season, Katie McKillop was probably the most improved player in a forward role and is unlucky with the competition for that area.
That makes it five players from each of Antrim, Derry and Down, not what I intended when I started to write this article. But it has ended with perhaps a fair reflection of what each county has contributed to another good season for camogie in the province.
Player of the year, in my opinion, should come down to one of these four.
Derry’s Aoife Ní Chaiside or Down’s Dearbhla Magee are in the mix for the control they exercise over a team from a defensive position, while at the other end of the pitch, the scoring consistency of Niamh Mallon and Áine McAllister is the main reason their team has achieved what they have this year. It is a tough call here.
So my selection is:
Catherine McGourty (Down), Colleen Patterson (Antrim), Dearbhla Magee (Down), Niamh Quinn (Derry), Caoimhe Conlon (Antrim), Aoife Ní Chaiside, Lauren McKenna (both Derry), Amy Boyle (Antrim), Lauren Clarke (Down), Áine McAllister (Derry), Sara Louise Graffin, Niamh Mallon (both Down), Aoife Shaw (Derry), Róisín McCormick, Caitrín Dobbin (both Antrim).
Who would you pick in your camogie team of the year?
