Ulster senior semi-final – Sunday, November 3, 1pm in Clonduff Park, Hilltown: Clonduff (Down) v Loughgiel (Antrim)
“CLONDUFF are good enough to give anyone their fill of it!”
So says their manager Derek Dunne who was in charge of the Down county team when they made the breakthrough for Ulster by winning the 2020 All-Ireland Intermediate title and then followed it up with the Division 2 National League title six months later.
The Laois native was persuaded by his partner Fionnuala Carr to take over in Clonduff at the start of the year and he has guided them back to the top in the county, claiming a 10th title three weeks ago with a 1-13 to 1-3 win over Portaferry in windswept Kilclief.
“To be honest I think that Clonduff are good enough to win in Down any year. They have that mix of experienced players who are great leaders and a squad of younger girls who are very capable.
“We won most of our games in the championship by around 15 points. It was ten in the final. In the back of your mind you are thinking that we could have done with tighter games, but championship games are for winning. It doesn’t matter how you get that done, as long as you do it.
“We went into every game so far as favourites and won it comfortably. The big challenge is the next game.”
That will be against Loughgiel, who have been a fixture at Ulster level for more than a decade with 11 successive Antrim titles and they are now chasing a third successive provincial crown.
“Clonduff won their second Intermediate All-Ireland two years ago and are responsible for getting Down club camogie upgraded to senior. Liatroim got through last year and you could see there is a gap to be bridged for any Down team to be competitive at the top level.
“We got Down camogie up there and we now have to close that gap and we think we can do it,” says the company director.
“Winter camogie is different to playing in the summer. There’s no fast-running ball. Play gets shut down more quickly. There’s more physicality needed. You have to deal with wind and rain and all those things.
“We have worked a lot on those aspects in training and we have to get Loughgiel to play on our terms. Like in the Down final, we played against the breeze in the first half and won nine of the 11 poc outs.
“We need to bring that type of game to Loughgiel and make them work for every opening.”
In that county decider, they more or less negated the impact Niamh Mallon had on the play.
Against Loughgiel, Clonduff will face a double-scoring threat in Róisín McCormick and Caitrín Dobbin.
“We want Róisín and Caitrín to have to come out the field looking for ball because it’s not going into them, get them away from the danger area.
“That’s probably easier said than done because Loughgiel are a very experienced team and over the years I am sure they have learned to adopt to different types of games.
“I think we can be competitive at this level, make teams scrap for possession, fight for scores. We’ll see on Sunday.”
