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.
Ciara Mageean credited her camogie background for her fantas Read More
Monday 10th June 2024
I didn't grow up playing camogie to get boxed in10 June 2024, 8:46 am
Ciara Mageean credited her camogie background for her fantastic win in Rome on Sunday evening.
The Co. Down athlete was the toast of Ireland after running a tactically brilliant race to become European 1500m champion. Despite being boxed in by British pair of Jemma Reekie and Georgia Bell, she managed to find a gap down the home stretch to better her bronze and silver medals at previous European Championships.
"Everybody back home knows how long I have been doing this, how hard I have been trying. I’ve had so many times when I’ve come off races and not felt the way I am today.
"I went out on that track today super nervous, but I had a plan and a mission, that was to hear Amhrán na bhFiann. "When I was getting a bit boxed in, I thought 'Oh my God, I have all the legs left but nowhere to go'.
"But I didn’t grow up playing camogie to get boxed in! I want to thank everybody who has helped me get here today to win my first senior gold medal for Ireland.
"To be at the top of the podium and to hear our National Anthem and to show world athletics that the Irish are here. We are here to show where we belong."
Ciara hails from a well-known GAA family in the Down hurling stronghold of Portaferry. Along with her siblings, she wore the club colours, while her father Chris was part of the Down team that famously relegated reigning All-Ireland champions Kilkenny from Division 1 of the Allianz League in 1993.
Ciara's mother Catherine was also a talented camogie player in her youth.
