By J Quinn
Thirty six years is a long time to be
waiting for a county championship. The girls of Ballycran have been waiting
since 1969 and watching enviously as the young men of the club have claimed all
the glory collecting county Hurling titles almost with a monotonous regularity.
But on Sunday next at Kilclief the girls of Ballycran will be hoping to end the
barren years and to claim their place in the sun.
The Down Camogie final on Sunday is a
repeat of last years final between the same two teams, a game which Liatroim won
to collect their thirteenth consecutive county title. But the margin between the
teams at the end of a thriller last year was a single point and the girls in the
Ards think that they have come on a point since that game. Liatroim of course
went on from that narrow win over the Ards girls to collect their Ulster title
and then the All Ireland Junior title.
Liatroim got a fright in the semi-final
when held to a draw by Clonduff at Hilltown but in the replay at Fontenoy Park
on Tuesday evening a first half goal from Mairin McAleenan was enough to settle
the Liatroim nerves and equally unsettle the young and inexperienced Clonduff
team, with the Fontenoys running out winners with eight points to spare.
Mairin, a Camogie All Star in centenary
year has been in the treatment room following the recurrence of a knee injury
but after standing in goals in the drawn game against Clonduff she donned the
number fifteen jersey for the replay and even with the left knee heavily
strapped their was no hiding the skill factor.
These two teams between them had seven of
the starting fifteen in the Down team beaten by Armagh in the recent Ulster
final and these will be the players who will no doubt influence the outcome of
Sundays final. Liatroim will be looking to the McCrickard girls Caitriona and
Lisa, the McGovern sisters Ciara and Claire, Kelly O’Higgins and of course
Mairin McAleenan but Ballycran will not sell themselves short. Their scoring
power will come from Catherine McGourty Amelda Gilmore, Michele Dorrian and
Jennifer Braniff.
Liatroim Fontenoys have dominated Down
Camogie for the past twenty years collecting Ulster senior titles and an All
Ireland title along the way and on Sunday they will be bidding for their
fourteenth successive county title looking back to 1990 when Atticall were the
last team to bet them in a county decider. They are the team with experience and
that counts for a lot in a county final and they are in no mood to surrender
their three titles just yet. Last years final was a thriller and St Malachys
Park Kilclief on Sunday promises a repeat.
Division four Final
The curtain raiser at St Malachys Park will
be the Division four final between Ballela and Longstone. Ballela a long time
hurling stronghold are recently reformed and under the guidance of Bernard
McCusker they are making great strides. Their young team are unbeat5en in the
league and they will be looking to midfielder Elanna Magee, Ciara Magee and
county U16 players Caroline McCusker and Sinead McGreevy to get their scores
whilst at the back they will rely on their influential half back line where Mary
McClorey and Roisin McCusker have been outstanding. County titles don’t come too
often to Longstone but they wear their jersey with pride in the Mournes. Team
manager Briege O’Hare will be looking Pauline Treanor who was in the Down squad
beaten in last years All Ireland final and Kathy Harrisson who won county the
county U14 player award in 1998 to provide the leadership for their younger
players, Eimar and Aiobhain Rodgers and the sisters Noreen and Roisin Rodgers.
The curtain raiser at St Malachys Park gets
underway at 1-30pm followed by the senior decider which is scheduled for
3-00pm..
