By Niall Gartland

NAOMH Treasa are a camogie club on a mission. They stand on the cusp of the rescheduled 2020 All-Ireland Junior ‘B’ title (they play Wicklow side Knockanna this Sunday), but it’s worth stopping for a moment and considering their rapid ascent through the ranks of provincial camogie.

A relatively young club based in the camogie heartland of Dungannon, they were hammered only a few years ago in their first tentative foray into Ulster by Antrim side Bridini Oga.

Things have only improved in the intervening period: they won back-to-back Bridie McMenamin titles (effectively the Ulster Junior ‘C’ competition), and now they’re only 60 minutes away from winning the All-Ireland title at the next level up.

We touched base with their coach Cathal McErlean this week. His brother Mickey manages the team, and he has two nieces on the panel (Roisin McErlean and Cora McGrath). It’s a similar story elsewhere – surnames like Casey, Colton and Barker are immediately recognisable to those au fait with Dungannon hurling and camogie.

So it’s a tight-knit club, and they did remarkably well to come through their semi-final clash against a star-studded Na Brideoga, despite conceding two goals in the opening minutes.

McErlean said: “We were two points down after 90 seconds, it was tough going to be honest, our first reaction was ‘oh no here we go’, but the girls dug deep and they have dug deep in all the big games.

“They’ve shown great resolve and great character and point-by-point got themselves back into the game.

“Na Brideoga are a super team and the girls knew that heading into the game. They had about 10 players from the Mayo team who played in the Nancy Murray Cup whereas we had two or three. But the girls showed their grit and determination to get over the line.”

Naomh Treasa have some cracking players like captain Cara Little, Aine McNulty, Roisin McErleane, Eimear Colton, Marian Barker and dual star Grainne Rafferty, to name but a few. They’ve played four weeks on the trot but are in good shape heading into their big match this Sunday.