Donaghmoyne bidding for 15th Ulster crown

By Niall Gartland

IT’S a classic Ulster final pairing. 14-time champs Donaghmoyne, who haven’t tasted success since 2022, versus a Moneyglass side that won the title for the first time in the club’s history this time last year.

It’s not their first rodeo, however. Indeed, the last time they met, back in 2023, it had the feel of a real sliding doors moment, Moneyglass overcoming the perennial standbearers and reigning champions by 2-8 to 1-7. Antrim GAA fanzine TheSaffronGael went as far as to say that it was the greatest result in the side’s history.

Since then, Clann Éireann and Moneyglass have reigned supreme on the provincial stage, but it seems like Donaghmoyne are well and truly back. It’s all set up nicely ahead of Sunday’s showdown at Killyclogher, and Donaghmoyne manager Annmarie Burns recognises that it’s likely to be a real battle royale. Redemption is at stake, but more pertinently, so is the prized provincial title.

“Moneyglass are a really good team,” she said. “We maybe got caught on the hop a wee bit that day, but they’ve been coming along for a while. We played them in an Ulster final the year before, and there wasn’t much between the teams then either.”

Burns added: “They have a couple of fantastic minor squads as well, with a few good young girls coming through while still having some of their older players. It’ll be a very tough task. They’ve been motoring well over the last couple of years.”

It’s been a busy time for the Donaghmoyne girls between the newly introduced group stages and a league final in Monaghan in between times. It’s fair to say they’ve picked up a head of team, however, though they didn’t get it all their own way in their 4-8 to 1-8 win over Cavan side Knockbride in their third and final group stage match.

“They’re a young, up-and-coming team. I think they were on a 12-game winning streak in the championship. They’ve made immense strides and are definitely a team to watch out for. We managed to get a goal near the end to put a bit of gloss on it.”

“It’s been busy – we had the first two weeks of Ulster matches, and then we had a league final in Monaghan in between. Look, the girls are managing niggles and things like that, so it is tough. But it’s nice to be playing every Sunday. You’re training, and I think sometimes it’s good to keep the momentum going.

It isn’t Donaghmoyne’s first run out at Killyclogher, who will host Sunday’s game. Indeed, they have happy memories of celebrating provincial success at the Tyrone-based venue.

“Yeah, actually, the girls were saying that we’ve played a couple of Ulster finals there. We played Termon a couple of times and Glenfin maybe two or three times. It’s a fantastic facility, with a very good pitch to play on. It’s been a couple of years since we were there.”