By Niall Gartland

IT’S fair to say that Sleacht Néill camogie star Shannon Graham is being kept busy.

Not only was she an integral part, as always, of Sleacht Néill’s Ulster Senior Championship final replay victory over Loughgiel on Saturday, but she completed her physio exams earlier this week, and now has an All-Ireland semi-final against Wexford side Oulart-The-Ballagh to contend with this weekend.

It potentially doesn’t end there either. Last weekend’s Ulster final victory over Loughgiel was the rescheduled 2020 showdown, and the provincial camogie chiefs have scheduled the 2021 final for January.

Speaking earlier this week, Graham said: “Our diary is just jam-packed with camogie, it just rules your life. We have the All-Ireland semi-final this weekend, potentially an All-Ireland final on December 19, and then the Ulster Championship 2021 final has been scheduled for January 15.

“That’ll be strange for both Loughgiel and ourselves. It’s exhausting but at the same time you have to appreciate that we’ll potentially be able to contest two Ulster finals and two All-Irelands in such a small space of time.”

Even though it’s full steam ahead for Graham and her teammates, it’s still worth savouring their fifth Ulster Championship triumph in-a-row. They’ve been unbelievable ambassadors for Derry and Ulster camogie, and Graham points out that it hasn’t been one single batch of players who have done the business for them down the years.

“It’s surreal because it doesn’t even seem that long ago that we won our first Ulster title. It was actually won in similar circumstances as we won after a replay with Loughgiel.

“The delight in winning is still the same, but the change in the team is the biggest thing. Young players like Bridin McAllister and Orla McNeill were panellists all those years ago and now they’re hugely important players on our team. It’s amazing that we’ve been able to sustain things, we still have a few older heads hanging in there like myself, Louise Dougan and Josie McMullan.”

Try as they might, Loughgiel haven’t been able to get the better of Sleacht Néill in their now-regular meetings in the Ulster final. But they came damn close this year, which was no surprise when you consider players like Roisin McCormick starred in Antrim’s run to All-Ireland Intermediate glory during the summer.

“Loughgiel are a superb team with amazing players and I’ve so much respect for their club and their players. Antrim were so successful this year and had quite a few Loughgiel players on the panel.

“In the drawn game a lot of our girls were a bit disappointed as we felt we were flat. Loughgiel had group games in the Antirm championship, a quarter-final, semi-final and a final whereas we had five league games then straight into the Derry semi-finals. I felt we were a bit rusty, so it was probably good that we managed to get a draw, the extra game should stand us in good stead. It’s very difficult to get challenge games particularly in the current circumstances.”

Sleacht Néill’s four-in-row bid in the All-Ireland series fell agonisingly short in early 2020, but they’re one game away from qualifying for the final and a chance of receiving redemption. Graham expects nothing easy against their Leinster opponents this weekend.

“We played them [Oulart-The-Ballagh] two or three years ago in a challenge game, I think we came away with the win. They’ve big names playing for them like Una Lacey and Ursala Jacob, prominent players for the Wexford senior camogie team. They beat Thomastown in their provincial final, a very strong Kilkenny team, so we know they’ll be strong.”