Coleman hopes league experience stands to Down camogs

IT wasn’t that long ago that Down camogs reigned supreme in Ulster, but Dearbhla Coleman knows they can’t afford to look beyond Saturday’s provincial semi-final tie with an in-form Armagh.

Down last ruled the roost in Ulster with a 0-15 to 0-9 victory over Antrim in 2023, with their captain at the time, Niamh Mallon, contributing 10 points across the hour.

Her Portaferry colleague Coleman was also playing that day, though Mallon of course is now playing for her adopted Galway, with whom she won an All-Ireland Senior title last year.

Down’s stock has fallen somewhat but a league win over Dublin suggests they’re not a million miles off, even if relegation represented a disappointing conclusion to their Division 1B campaign.

There were a few ‘what ifs’ to contend with – including a narrow defeat to Limerick on their first day out and a poor showing against Offaly.

Coleman said: “We were unlucky not to get a win over Limerick. In the second half, especially in the last 10-15 minutes, we really started to play. A few errors in decision making cost us the game. We could have come away with two points. In the end we had two frees but tried to work a goal, and maybe that was the wrong decision on the day.

“Then in our game against Offaly, we didn’t score enough. That was one of our poorer performances in the league and that was the difference as we ended up relegated on scoring difference.

“It was still a good experience. You want to be playing against the teams in Division One, and hopefully it’ll stand to us going into the championship and playing against the likes of Kerry, Antrim, and Derry.”

First though, they have their provincial campaign. Armagh in Crossmaglen is the classic potential banana skin.

Coleman said: “Armagh had a good league campaign and got promoted to Division Two last week, so we’re under no illusions they’re going to give us a tough game. We’re aware of some of their threats in the forward line, so we’ll be looking to get our match-ups right and hopefully it’ll be a good game.”

There’s a particularly strong Portaferry representation on the Down team this year, and that’s no coincidence. Yes, they’re one of the leading forces in Down camogie, but that’s only half the story.

“This is my fourth or fifth year on the panel. I started when I was 18 in the juniors. I think I played a year or two there before moving up to seniors.

“We have a panel of nearly 40 this year. I’m from Portaferry obviously, and we’ve been in the Down county final the last two or three years. We spoke about it and felt there weren’t enough girls involved in Down. So we now have about nine involved this year, compared to maybe two or three last year.

“Teams like Clonduff and Liatroim had seven or eight girls involved. Last year there were just a couple of Portaferry girls, and now we’ve got at least nine. Hopefully that will stand to us going into championship with Portaferry.”