Home » AIB All Ireland Senior Camogie Club Championship Semi-Final: Loughgiel v Oulart the Ballagh

AIB All Ireland Senior Camogie Club Championship Semi-Final: Loughgiel v Oulart the Ballagh

AIB All Ireland Senior Camogie Club Championship Semi-Final

Sunday, February 1st 2015

Loughgiel v Oulart the Ballagh

Throw-in @ 2.30pm

Castleblayney GAA, Co. Monaghan

Referee: Alan Lagrue

At this stage of the Club Camogie calendar in 2012, Wexford side Oulart the Ballagh recorded a convincing win over Loughgiel to deny the Antrim champions a place in the All Ireland Final. This time around however the Ulster side will be desperate to turn the tables as months of sacrifice and hard work have set up an opportunity to exact a wholly different outcome. Speaking to club captain Emma McMullan at Monday night’s press evening you could sense an underlying air of quiet belief coming from the humble half forward as she paid tribute to the quality of their opponents this Sunday. ” Wexford Camogie, it’s always strong. Oulart the Ballagh have won the All Ireland only a couple of years ago so we know we’ll definately be up against it, but we are confident going into the game, I have trust in all the players. Yes they are a good side and we are probably underdogs but we are not going down there (Castleblaney) for a day out, we are going down to hopefully come out with a win.”

There was an unusual and refreshing sense of calm at the shamrocks club house last night during the press evening. Usually at these events an overwhelming sense of nerves and in some cases fear can be forgiven for dominating the atmosphere. Not in Loughgeil. Emma had been joined by the management team and her team mates Siobhan McCloskey ,Bernie McGarry and Emma Connolly. Their calmness is not to be mistaken for relaxed attitudes you understand. Instead it projected a steely focus from a group who have been down this road before and are under no illusions whatsoever as to what must be done come Sunday.

Manager Aidan McKeown is hopeful that “one or two niggles can clear up by Sunday” so they may have a clean bill of players to pick from. Aidan is also wary of the threat the Wexford side will pose, with county players littered throughout their panel but has noted a marked step up from his own team this year, “This group of girls have been together for a number of years now and have put in serious effort this whole season, I’m confident they have done enough to put us in with a shout”.