Antrim camogie

[Sportacus]

Very impressed by Antrim today.  Handling was really excellent at times. Congratulations to all.

[imtommygunn]

McCormick is a serious operator and wouldn't be out of place in senior final. Young mcallister excellent too. Great win.

[oakleafgael]

Is that how far Antrim have fallen that they are celebrating running away with an intermediate title?

[imtommygunn]

Eh? What do you want people to do?

[marty34]

Is that how far Antrim have fallen that they are celebrating running away with an intermediate title?

Great achievement. Always going to beat Laois, just a matter of by how many. Up to senior again.


But not playing in Div. 1A will be difficult. Teams at 1B are not at the same level and won't help them in senior championship.


Dowds has steadied the ship after being ousted a few years back. Not sure what happened but seem to set Antrim back a bit.


Camogie finals were good. Although ref. should have produced a red in fairness. Decent crowd in also.

[johnnycool]

Is that how far Antrim have fallen that they are celebrating running away with an intermediate title?

Great achievement. Always going to beat Laois, just a matter of by how many. Up to senior again.


But not playing in Div. 1A will be difficult. Teams at 1B are not at the same level and won't help them in senior championship.


Dowds has steadied the ship after being ousted a few years back. Not sure what happened but seem to set Antrim back a bit.


Camogie finals were good. Although ref. should have produced a red in fairness. Decent crowd in also.

Dowds alluded to a bit of in-fighting holding the team back the last few years.

Antrim were the better team and will be facing the likes of Clare, Limerick, Waterford, Offaly in their round robin championship with the top 2 getting a crack at the quarter finals against a Tipp or Kilkenny most likely.

In the senior game, Galway will rue going for goals too early and should have kept popping the points over five minutes from normal time still on the clock then the 5 minutes of injury time.

Carrie Dolan should have seen a yellow for her first body check, didn't and went on to do an even worse one and got the yellow.
Considering Cork lost a player last year for much less (albeit right in front of the ref) she can consider herself very lucky.
The Galway centre back going off injured early in the second half was a big blow for Galway as she was doing so well.

Nice to see a Down girl, Sorcha McCartan picking up the POTM trophy, well deserved, some great scores throughout and her flick on for the second Cork goal was a thing of beauty.

The other Down girl on display evidently hadn't recovered enough for her shoulder injury and had to retire after 15 minutes I think. She'll be back in Portaferry colours in a months time.

[imtommygunn]

10-20 to 0-1 in a championship match. Not good.

Dunloy ballycastle looked tight enough until mcallister got her hat trick.

[imtommygunn]

Could there be a big shock on the cards...

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

For the second year in a row we were treated to another brilliant senior camogie final.

Two excellent teams going at it with nothing between them.

You can see next years championship going the same way with Loughgiel back with a renewed hunger!

[Cnoc Bán]

For the second year in a row we were treated to another brilliant senior camogie final.

Two excellent teams going at it with nothing between them.

You can see next years championship going the same way with Loughgiel back with a renewed hunger!

Yes, I was at it and it was a great battle with some very talented players out there.

[Hoof Hearted]

the clips i saw on social media....the 1st thing that struck me was the crowd ! Never saw Ballymena like that before.
Very ignorant on the old camogie, so tell me, are big crowds the norm come championship time ?

[whereshegoinref]

For the second year in a row we were treated to another brilliant senior camogie final.

Two excellent teams going at it with nothing between them.

You can see next years championship going the same way with Loughgiel back with a renewed hunger!

Yes, I was at it and it was a great battle with some very talented players out there.

It was a good battle and gripping to watch but the quality wasn't a patch on last year's final, it was a succession of rucks and frees in comparison.

A great occasion and two brilliant teams not giving an inch but the 'best final ever' pr on socials insults the intelligence a small bit.

[Torcrua]

As Gary said in his post match interview, the standards and preparation involved in senior club camogie are now on a par with senior hurling. Cushendall and Dunloy have risen to the incredible bar set by Loughgiel, and you can be sure Loughgiel will be back again next year. It all points towards another brilliant championship.

I didn't get to see the final, but I was at the Cushendall v Loughgiel semi-final and thought the level of skill, intensity and physicality on show was seriously impressive.

The big question now is whether Antrim can harness all that quality at club level and translate it into a county team capable of competing consistently at Division 1 level. The talent and standards are clearly there, but can it all be brought together?

Derry camogie is also on a real upward trajectory, and I don't think it'll be long before they're challenging Antrim regularly for Ulster titles. Plenty of positives for camogie in the province, but Antrim need to make sure the progress being made at club level is reflected on the intercounty stage.

[whereshegoinref]

As Gary said in his post match interview, the standards and preparation involved in senior club camogie are now on a par with senior hurling. Cushendall and Dunloy have risen to the incredible bar set by Loughgiel, and you can be sure Loughgiel will be back again next year. It all points towards another brilliant championship.

I didn't get to see the final, but I was at the Cushendall v Loughgiel semi-final and thought the level of skill, intensity and physicality on show was seriously impressive.

The big question now is whether Antrim can harness all that quality at club level and translate it into a county team capable of competing consistently at Division 1 level. The talent and standards are clearly there, but can it all be brought together?

Derry camogie is also on a real upward trajectory, and I don't think it'll be long before they're challenging Antrim regularly for Ulster titles. Plenty of positives for camogie in the province, but Antrim need to make sure the progress being made at club level is reflected on the intercounty stage.

They competed very well in D1 last year albeit in defensive mode rather than going toe to toe.
Next year in 1B they'll be up against teams where they can compete on an even footing likes of dublin limerick offaly etc.
I wouldnt be surprised if they get to senior qf if championship structures stay the same.

Fair point about Derry camogie, their schools are flying and the club scene is very competitive. While the top teams at the minute are a wee bit off antrims best, the depth is better, in a couple of years there could be 6 teams challenging for senior cship, whereas in antrim there is nothing coming to challenge the top 3 for the next 3 years at least.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

 I def thing that the improvement of Cushendall and Dunloy to get up to the same level as what Loughgiel had set will only be a good thing for Antrim camogie.

Having three good teams to go at a senior championship is only a good thing rather than one team just walking it year after year. Ballycastle aren't far off being competitive though have lost a few players to pregnancy, injuries and travelling over the year.

I have long maintained that Antrim cant be competitive at the top level when they rely on the top few clubs all the time. If you look at Cork they only had 3/4 of the St Finbarr's players in their panel, for Galway you only again had a small handful of players from Athenry.

The top counties take players from a host of clubs but the difference is that they are all nearly Division 1 level

Antrim's issue is that they have players from Division 2 & intermediate level. The standard between Div1/senior to Div2/intermediate is massive in our county. Its trying to close that drop off.

You only have to see that this years intermediate final was Dunloy v Loughgiels second teams. They beat the senior sides of clubs in the knockouts to get there - and that's after both clubs had played 6 senior games prior to that ruling out anyone who played senior for the intermediate comp.

Division 1B is Antrims level at the moment for County where they will be competitive against the likes of Dublin, Clare, Limerick etc.