Knockbride set for tilt against Monaghan titans

By Niall Gartland

THE Knockbride ladies are riding the crest of a wave, but it doesn’t get much tougher than an all-or-nothing battle with a renaissant Donaghmoyne, who are comfortably the most successful team in the history of the Ulster Ladies Championship.

Donaghmoyne are well and truly back, sealing their spot in Sunday’s Ulster Senior Championship semi-final against Knockbride by virtue of comfortable wins over Bredagh and Errigal Ciaran. To put their dominance into context, they have won 14 provincial titles since the turn of the millennium.

So that’s the challenge facing Paul Cahill and his Knockbride side, who have continued to shine having won last year’s All-Ireland Intermediate title. In a way, it’s a wonderful challenge to have.

Cahill, who is in his first year at the helm, said: “It’s a good complaint! We’re obviously aware of how successful Donaghmoyne have been, but I suppose it’s only when you’re pitted against them, that you take an interest in trying to stop them. That’ll be the focus, to put a plan in place.

“Look, I think everyone in Ulster knows about Donaghmoyne, they’re about to long and they’ve won so much. They had a couple of years where they missed out in Monaghan, and it seems that gave them the push to go at it again. They seem to be on the rise again, so we’ll see.”

Knockbride cemented their spot in the semi-finals with a hard-earned victory over Armagh represenatives Shane O’Neill’s, a side spearheaded by the Mackin sisters Blaithin and Aimee.

“We have two wins under our belts so we’re happy. The girls are embracing the side that’s in front of them.

“We got a good win over Shane O’Neill’s. We’d a couple of chances that we didn’t take, and they got a goal to pin us back. We went four or five ahead again, and they got another goal, so it was to-ing and fro-ing.”

On their efforts to curtail Shane O’Neill’s marquee names, he added: “We had a plan going out, but you could have a hundred plans in place and nothing might come of any of them.

“But look, the girls adjusted on the field. We tried to minimise the supply into Aimee, because she’s always a threat whenever she gets the ball. The girls worked really hard around the middle third to stop the supply lines, but to be fair they tried very hard all over the field.”