By Niall Gartland

LOUGHGIEL star Lucia McNaughton acknowledges that their All-Ireland final defeat to Sarsfields in December 2022 still stings, so a chance at achieving redemption is on the cards in Sunday’s semi-final clash at Kingspan Breffni.

They met on a cold winter’s day in late 2022 at Croke Park with Sarsfields claiming a 2-14 to 1-14 victory in what was Loughgiel’s first-ever appearance in an All-Ireland Senior Camogie final.

For Galway girls Sarsfields, it was more or less another day at the office. Indeed, they’ve featured on All-Ireland final day seven times in the last eight years, winning thrice and losing the other four, including last year’s final to Dicksboro.

They’re the standard-bearers but they’re not unbeatable and McNaughton hopes that Loughgiel have learnt from the experience of 2022.

Admitting that their All-Ireland final defeat still plays on her mind, the Ballymena-based physio said: “I constantly think of that match because I’ve always felt we could’ve won.

“But I suppose what separated us was that Sarsfields already had so much experience of playing in All-Ireland finals.

“They knew how to kill momentum and we probably didn’t realise what they were doing until it was too late.

“They’re obviously a very good team but I still look back to it thinking maybe it was the one that got away. Thankfully we’ve earned ourselves another chance of getting back into an All-Ireland final and hopefully we’ll be able to do that.”

McNaughton has found herself in a slightly more advanced position this year, mainly operating out of the half-forward line. Previously she struck up a formidable midfield partnership with Amy Boyle, but they’re never too far away from each other on the pitch.

“I’m up in the half-forward line, Amy and I have been broken up. I was injured most of the year, I’d probably played only half an hour for the county.

“I wasn’t overly fit when I came back in for Loughgiel and maybe that’s why they put me in the half-forward line, maybe they thought I wouldn’t be fit enough for midfield initially.

“That’s the way it’s worked out but it’s going alright. Half-forwards are expected to go back into midfield and track back so it hasn’t changed that much, and Amy and I are still close enough on the pitch.”

Loughgiel won their third Ulster title running with a hugely impressive victory over Swatragh nearly a fortnight ago. They claimed a one-sided victory over senior newcomers Clonduff in the semi-final as well, but McNaughton insists they weren’t walks in the park.

“Well, if you look at the scoreboard it appeared to be straightforward but they’re both very physical teams and they were very hard-hitting matches.

“We’d played Swatragh in a challenge match before our county final in Antrim and it was really competitive and we were expecting the exact same in the Ulster final.

“The first half was close but we found our stride in the second half. Maybe our experience told in the end up but you still woke up on the Sunday morning knowing you were in a match.”

Their Ulster final showdown was played in mid-Tyrone village Beragh, 90 minutes by road from Loughgiel. It was a wee bit of a trek but McNaughton was impressed by the club’s facilities so there were no complaints in that respect.

“The facilities were excellent, it was all you would have wanted for an Ulster final. I suppose if it had have been closer to Swatragh and ourselves, there’d have been more neutrals in attendance, but the facilities and the way we were treated was brilliant. It was great to travel down on the bus together, there was a stand there, and a nice balcony to receive the trophy, so it was a great experience.”

While Loughgiel have dominated the club scene in Antrim for more than a decade, it’s only in recent years that they mastered the provincial domain. For years they played second fiddle to Sleacht Néill, but they finally cracked the code in 2022 and they haven’t looked back.

“When we finally beat them two years ago, I do feel there was a bit of a change. There were times where we thought we’d never get the better of them, so when we managed to do so it gave us more confidence in ourselves.

“We were always close to Sleacht Néill in those games, but when it came to crunch they always seemed to get the better of us.

“As I keep on saying, maybe it was an experience thing, but we’ve a really good group of players and we’ve really grown in confidence in the last few years.

“We always wondered about what we could do if we ever got out of Ulster, and then the year we did, we got to an All-Ireland final, and I think that’s driven us on as every year we want to get back there again.”