Ulster Senior Camogie Championship final: Antrim v Down (Saturday, 12.30pm, Edendork)
All-Star attacker Maeve Kelly will play no part in Antrim’s forthcoming Championship campaign, which begins with Saturday’s Ulster final meeting with Down at Edendork.
The Ballycastle native suffered a broken foot last November and was still in crutches when she collected her All-Star award and the 2021 Intermediate Player’s Player of the Year award in March.
Despite undergoing surgery and having pins inserted, the bone has not healed sufficiently and a specialist told Kelly that she’ll be sidelined for the remainder of the campaign and will have to undergo a period of rehab.
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Siobhan McKillop (broken thumb) is a serious doubt for Saturday's Ulster final, but Chloe Drain is available for selection.
“Chloe (Drain) got married on Easter Tuesday and didn’t miss any training in the run up to the wedding so I think that shows her level of commitment - she’ll be there this weekend,” said Antrim boss Elaine Dowds.
“Siobhan Mc Killop still has her hand in a cast, having broken her thumb three weeks ago, so she’s doubtful.
“Obviously, not having Maeve Kelly this year is a massive blow to us, but it just leaves the opportunity for other players to step up.”
The Saffrons have lost two key meetings with Down in the last two seasons.
Dowds was part Paul McKillen and Jim McKernan’s management team in 2020 when they lost the All-Ireland Intermediate final 4-16 to 2-10 to Down at Kingspan Breffni Park with Niamh Mallon’s second half brace of goal proving crucial.
Last season, they lost out to Down in the Division Two final at Owenbeg and suffered another defeat in this year’s decider to Wexford in Croke Park.
Dowds is hoping that her side can absorb the lessons of those losses as they try to close the gap to the defending Ulster champions.
“We were probably out of our depth against Down that night in Breffini – no two ways about it,” reflected Dowds.
“But, we learned a lot from the experience and were able to put a plan in place to help us progress and improve and I suppose that culminated in the All-Ireland win last year.
“It was incredible to win but more importantly, it gave us the reassurance that we’d worked hard on the right things and that has given us confidence in going forward this year.
“The league final was disappointing in terms of how we played. We know that we are much better than the performance that day.
“We have absolutely no problem bouncing back from defeat because we’re determined to show who we are.
“We all received quite a bit of criticism from different quarters after the League final and I think that has just given the girls a massive incentive to prove their worth.”
Dowds added that Chloe Drain’s controversial dismissal against Wexford wasn’t offered up as an excuse for the defeat, even though she disagreed with the call.
“We had a really horrible start to the game, conceding the three goals so quickly.
“Playing in Croker and the occasion itself definitely got to us and it took us too long to settle. But those three goals are on us – not down to poor refereeing.
“They resulted from poor handling and mistakes that we made. That said, Chloe’s sending off was harsh I felt, at a time when we were literally backs to the wall and struggling to survive in the game.
“Some decisions that could have maybe given us a foothold in the game, didn’t go our way so yes, it’s safe to say, I wasn’t particularly delighted with the referee that day.
“Comparing our game to the senior game that followed and some of the contact and challenges that were allowed, you would think that we were playing under two different sets of rules.”
Down will have the benefit of playing in the top flight this season and Paul Donnelly’s side also have a game under their belt.
However, they were forced to pull out all the stops to edge Derry 1-14 to 1-13 in extra-time in last weekend’s semi-final at Castledawson.
Paula O’Hagan plundered the vital match-winning goal in extra-time and Donnelly’s side are likely to face another close battle at Edendork on Saturday.
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