Cavan and Armagh setup All-Ireland showdown

By Daragh Ó Conchúir

THE Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Premier Junior final will be a repeat of the Covid decider of 2020, when Armagh were too strong for Cavan.

It was Armagh’s last success but this time around, Cavan have a round-robin win over Armagh in the bank, though whether that has any bearing on a game for all the marbles is difficult to ascertain.

But of course, like any good manager, Armagh supremo, PJ O’Mullan was quite happy to make Cavan strong favourites against last year’s beaten finalists.

“We played them here in the round-robin and they beat us fair and square, beat us out the gate in fairness to them. They’ll probably go in as favourites and good favourites but we’ll have to try and get a few things right ourselves,” said O’Mullan, after goals from Rachel Trainor and Corina Doyle soon after the resumption kept his crew’s noses in front in a pulsating 4-19 to 2-19 win in Cavan.

Darkness into light: The journey of Antrim’s Maeve Kelly

“I think that was a great advert for camogie today. I think any time you go to a match and there’s 45 scores, it’s amazing and a credit to both teams.

“We prepared diligently for Roscommon. We knew what they were going to bring today. They are probably sick of the sight of us. We talked very much about complacency because we beat them three times already this year. They played Cavan and were 12 points up at a time so we knew how good they were and we had to dig deep to get the result.

“Our last game against Wicklow, with all due respects to Wicklow, wasn’t a test. We got a test today and if we play as well in the final, we’ll be there going down the stretch.”

“I think we’re just delighted to get over the line today,” added player of the match, Sinéad Quinn. “We played Roscommon a couple of times this year and we knew they’d be a very good team and we’re just glad to get back to Croke Park, which was the aim at the beginning of the year.”

Cavan maintained their perfect record to date this year but were made to work harder by Kildare than some might have imagined before eking out a 2-12 to 1-9 triumph in Tullamore thanks to goals by Hannah Fitzsimons and Niamh Keenaghan.

“In January we didn’t think we’d have a team,” said Shanise Fitzsimons, sister and midfield partner of the first-half goalscorer and subsequently named player of the match. “For us to be here right now is absolutely unbelievable. I don’t know what to say, I’m so delighted.

Croker time

“You always want to play with your county, you wanna play with your county and to play in Croke Park, this what you dream of. This is your dream as a child and I’m just absolutely honoured to get here.

“Hannah deserves this (award) more than me. She was so good in the middle of the park and driving on from there.

“That was a ferocious battle and we knew it was gonna be ferocious… Girls stood up in the last ten minutes when Kildare were throwing everything at us and you just couldn’t be prouder of that.”

Selector Matthew Hines hailed the players.

“It’s hard to describe,” Hines admitted. “The last 10 minutes were just incredible there. The girls had the belief in themselves in the latter end of the game. We knew Kildare were coming into this game giving it everything. We knew they were up for it and we knew they weren’t going to give up for the entire game.

“Those last 10 minutes – the same against Roscommon two weeks ago as well – they just dug in and fought and fought and fought and didn’t give an inch. And neither did Kildare, to give them credit.

“For the girls, for camogie in Cavan, it’s unbelievable. For these girls especially, it’s unbelievable.”