With four weeks still to go until Down's All-Ireland Junior Championship final on September 19th against Cork, preparations are well underway within the Mourne County.

While some mild celebrations took place after the semi-final win, for the Down squad it was back to business as usual within a few days of that Roscommon clash, as team Captain Jennifer Braniff explained. "We were back training with a bump the Wednesday after we beat Roscommon. If any of the team though we would have a nice light session after the semi-final they were badly mistaken. Bernie (McNally) fairly put us through our paces...but it was actually what we needed."

There were obvious scenes of joy after the win over Roscommon but celebrations were restrained as Jennifer acknowledged. "We did have a few quiet drinks together after the match but I think what we had just achieved hadn't really sunk in at that stage. We had put so much effort firstly into getting out of Ulster, and then past Roscommon to the final in Croke Park that when it actually happened, we were probably more relieved than anything. But we're wise enough to realise that it was a semi-final and that while it was great to win, we still have a lot of hard work in front of us before we play Cork. We can leave any celebrations until after that game."

One of the best kept secrets in Down the week prior to the Roscommon game was that Jennifer was carrying a foot injury and had been receiving intensive physiotherapy treatment in the run-up to, and just before the match. "I hurt my foot in a challenge match the Sunday before the semi-final. I had just landed after catching a ball and felt a pull on the base of my left foot and I couldn't put it fully on the ground. I got physio treatment all week and had the foot strapped just before the game. I got through it OK and there was some pain but its a lot better now and I no problems with it."

With the final only a matter of a few weeks away there is obvious excitement in the County at the prospect of Down playing in Croke Park but for the players, its very much a case of 'feet firmly on the ground'. "When you reach this stage of the competition you do think of what's ahead, of playing in the final, of running out onto Croke Park...that's only natural. But I think we're lucky in the fact that quite a few of the team have played in National Camogie finals, for Queens or Jordanstown and Down, to know that you don't dwell on things like that, you get on with what's at hand and for us that's training...and then of course Bernie and Colleen (Reilly) will definitely make sure we're at ground level!"