Ulster Ladies Finals Previews

ULSTER LADIES FINAL

For the third time in the history of the Ulster ladies senior championship Monaghan will meet Donegal. In the previous two meetings (2004 and 2012) Monaghan were victorious and it’s no surprise that the girls from the Farney County will be favourites when the sides meet next Sunday in Clones.

 

Monaghan went into their semi-final against Armagh with a mediocre league campaign behind them. With that said they have been working very hard behind the scenes and were well up for the game which was a repeat of last year’s Ulster final which the orchard girls won. In the first half it was tight as both teams got to know each other but in the second half the Farney management pulled off a master stroke. Cora Courtney was dropped back into the defence and all of a sudden their lively forwards seemed to have a lot more space and the scores began to flow. All their forwards bar the hard working and excellent Ciara Mc Anespie scored. Cathriona Mc Connell top scored with 7 points, Caoimhe Mohan was back to her best contributing 5 overs and the power of Laura Mc Eneaney and Ellen Mc Carron cause the Orchard defence all sorts of problems. In the end Monaghan won the game 2-19 to 2-7. Ulster final day is now part of the Monaghan calendar as they contested every decider since 2000. Their Division 1 status will also give them an edge but Donegal will not go down without a fight.

The Tir Chonnail side have had an excellent year so far. They won 6 of their 7 league games and then ousted Cavan in the playoffs. Their only competitive defeat thus far was the Division 2 league final against Armagh. They have had an extra championship match against Down however that game was so one sided it didn’t benefit them in any way. Tyrone were expected to give them a close game in the semi-final; however, Donegal didn’t read the script and ran out 3-19 t0 1-7 winners. Just 5 points separated the sides at the break but Donegal turned on the style in the second half and Tyrone had no answer to their powerful display which saw Geraldine Mc Laughlin score 1-5 and Yvonne Mc Monagle fire over 7 points. Altogether 8 different Donegal players scored. They also played with a sweeper and the brilliant Niamh Mc Laughlin cleaned up everything that came her way.

It all makes for an interesting final. Both teams like to attack with pace and have some of the best forwards in the country. The winner of the O Harte cup will be revealed next Sunday afternoon in Clones.

The curtain-raiser to the senior game will be the meeting of Fermanagh and Antrim in the intermediate decider. These two met at the semi-final stage last year with the honours going to Fermanagh. There is no guarantee however that this year’s game will see a repeat of that result. Antrim had a reasonably good league campaign in Division 4 and while Fermanagh played in a Division above them they didn’t really set the world on fire and failed to qualify for the semi-finals. This one will boil down to two things – hunger and planning. There is no doubting that both sides will be hungry to advance especially Antrim who will be hurting from last year’s defeat. Antrim are well organised and will relish the opportunity to advance to the All-Ireland series. Fermanagh on the other hand have had management issues and while they certainly have quality players they need to sort their backroom team if they are to have any chance going forward.

by Paul Swift.

TG4 Ulster Intermediate Championship Final

26.07.2015 Antrim v Fermanagh, St. Tiernach’s Park Clones, 1:15pm

TG4 Ulster Senior Championship Final

26.07.2015 Monaghan v Donegal, St. Tiernach’s Park Clones, 3:15pm