Moneyglass ready to renew acquaintances with Bredagh

MONEYGLASS have become accustomed to the highest echelons of Ulster Ladies football in recent years and they’re set to take on very familiar foes Bredagh in Sunday’s provincial opener at Cherryvale.

The Antrim representatives recently sealed the five in-a-row within their county with a resounding win over St Paul’s, and this will be the fourth time they’ve bumped into Bredagh over the course of the last five provincial campaigns.

Moneyglass have won two of their three meetings to date, and that includes a first-round win in last year’s championship, before their campaign came to an end with a three-point defeat against eventual champions Clann Éireann.

Even though free-scoring forward Orlaith Prenter is unavailable, hopes are still high that they can make their mark in the competition with joint-manager Maxi Curran, a native of Donegal, pointing to the legion of talented younger players coming through the ranks.

Curran, who manages the team alongside Charlie O’Kane, said: “Things have been going quite well for Moneyglass over the last number of years. They’ve had a good run at underage level, with a strong stream of talented players coming through. That’s starting to seep into the senior team now, alongside some seasoned campaigners like your Cathy Careys and your Niamh McIntoshes.

“You’ve now got a younger cohort who are really beginning to stand up and become an important part of the senior setup. They’ve won quite a lot at minor level — as recently as Sunday, they beat Mullahoran in the first round of the Ulster Minor Club Championship.

“So there’s a good squad available. The younger contingent aren’t fully down the road yet, but we’re still in a good place at the moment anyway.”

On the prospect of another provincial opener against Bredagh, Curran added: “They were in an Ulster final in 2023, have won a load of Down championships and the two teams know each other very well. That’s a sign of how well we have done in our respective counties – it’ll be a big game and we’re not looking beyond it.”