By Shaun Casey

IT was a weekend to remember for Antrim Camogie. Last Friday night, they completed a three-in-a-row of Ulster titles for the first time since the ’70’s, beating Down in the final with six-points to spare.

Just 36 hours later, their U23 side was in action and saw off Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final to secure their spot in the All-Ireland final where they will face Wexford.

Since returning from an ACL injury picked up in 2022, Maeve Kelly knows nothing else but success on the provincial scene. She’s helped the Saffron’s win three on the bounce and is savouring every moment.

“It’s been brilliant and I’m three seasons back since my ACL, so it’s been good to get back in and to end up winning three years in a row,” said Kelly, who scored 0-2 from midfield in the final.

“For us to win on Friday and then the U23s to win on Sunday, it’s absolutely amazing. It’s a great platform for Antrim, for loads of girls to get game-time and it only makes our team stronger whenever they get those experiences.

“Some of our subs are playing in an All-Ireland final next weekend and that will make our senior team better. That experience is deadly for us going into the championship, hopefully they can go on and win it because it’ll give us a big boost.”

Kelly, is however, somewhat mindful of the U23’s busy schedule of fixtures.

“But it has made our schedules very tight because they had a day to recover (between the Ulster final and All-Ireland semi-final) and now they’re straight back into with a week’s turnaround.

“The seniors have two weeks to prep for the start of our championship, whereas they have to prepare for their All-Ireland final and then worry about our championship, so they do have a jam-packed schedule.”

A fast started helped Antrim ease into the game and they had their noses ahead for the majority of the contest.

“We had loads of possession in the forward line, we just weren’t scoring as much as we would like.

“I should have buried a goal, but the keeper saved it. We had silly mistakes like that and we weren’t too happy with the first half. Down never stopped and you can’t switch off against them because they’ll keep coming at you.

“We’ll learn from all our mistakes, and we get to play them again so we have plenty to work on and we know we can perform better.”

Antrim begin their All-Ireland Intermediate Championship series in two weeks’ time and face two Ulster opponents in the opening three rounds.

They begin their campaign away to Derry, who they beat in the Ulster semi-final, and then travel to Down in a repeat of the provincial decider, either side of a home tie against Kerry.

“It’s a bit unfortunate that in the group stages of the All-Ireland, that we play Derry and Down so soon again,” Kelly continued.

“It’s good in another sense because they’re tough matches and it’s only going to be tougher when we play them a second time because they know what to expect of us and vice versa.”