Lurgan ladies set for first ever Ulster SFC final

By Niall Gartland

IT’S something of a big deal. The Lurgan ladies from Cavan will appear in their first-ever Ulster Senior Club Championship final this Sunday when they meet the might of holders Clann Éireann.

They’re accustomed to that winning feeling in the Breffni County, mopping up nine of the last 17 titles on offer, but they seemed to hit a wall on the provincial stage.

Take two years ago. Having sprung a surprise against Termon, they were pitted against Monaghan titans Donaghmoyne, and well, it didn’t exactly go to plan.

But not long after, in the depths of winter, a hugely talented crop of Lurgan youngsters clinched the Ulster Minor Championship title and a number of those players have helped spearhead their run to this year’s senior final.

Leading the team out on Sunday will be Eimear Corcoran, who shared captaincy duties with Roisin Dolan before she recently decamped to Australia. She says that they’re a more ambitious crop than in times gone by and they recognised an opportunity to make their mark outside the county boundaries.

“We’ve always put so much into getting past the county final because the competition is so tight in Cavan.

“When we got into Ulster, it was seen as bonus territory, there was a sense of ‘sure we’ll see how we go’.

“But the narrative has changed and we’re striving for more than that. I guess we heard Donaghmoyne weren’t in it this year and that probably helped us a little bit in terms of preparing for the competition, mentally we felt more confident.”

There’s no doubt that the contingent from the Ulster Minor winning team have reinforced what was already a formidable team at adult level. Corcoran says that the transition between the two teams couldn’t have been much smoother.

“My co-captain Roisin was one of the selectors of that minor team and two other girls on the senior team, Aoife Brady and Ellen O’Donoghue, were also involved in a coaching capacity, which was lovely.

“I think it’s actually really helped bridge a gap between our more experienced and younger players. We’ve got some really nice feedback from parents that those younger girls have transitioned really nicely into the team.

“They had great success at minor level, they’re well-used to playing in Ulster competitions and there’s a few on the county minor team that won the All-Ireland as well.

“They’ve taught us a lot between their professionalism and skill on the pitch, they’re so calm and able to handle the bigger games.”

Lurgan – based in Virginia which houses the men’s footballers of Ramor and nearby village Maghera – booked their spot in the final with victory over Termon, a breakthrough moment for the team who have never before reached the Ulster Senior final.

And it wasn’t even close – Anthony Brady’s side were full value for their victory with an utterly dominant display, seeing them into the final with 15 points to spare at the full-time whistle. Aoife Brady top-scored with 1-6, Catherine Dolan weighed in with 1-1 and Kacey McDermott 0-2. Emma Tolan, Niamh Tolan, Shannan Galligan and Corcoran herself all chipped in with scores on a day to remember.

“It was really good, we went up to Termon two years ago and had a really tough game against them. I think we just won by a point but we were lucky to get away with the win, we weren’t really expecting it.

“We definitely were surprised ourselves with how well we played when we met them in this year’s semi-final, it all seemed to click and we linked up quite well.

“We were delighted with how it went but it’ll be a different kettle of fish altogether against Clann Éireann, it’s going to be much tougher.”

Corcoran’s co-captain Dolan moved to Australia just a matter of weeks ago and while she misses her presence around the team, she’s confident in the leadership qualities of the rest of the team.

“Roisin wasn’t able to play the last two games, we miss her a lot, she’s a big loss but she’d planned to travel and is having a great time. It’s a shame we don’t have her, it’s not fun being captain on my own.

“It’s still definitely an honour to captain the team. It hasn’t been too difficult a job as there’s so many leaders on the team and past-captains that are still able to stand into that leadership role.”

Defending champions Clann Éireann can call upon quite a number of established Armagh ladies footballers like Clodagh McCambridge, Niamh Coleman and Niamh Henderson amongst others, but Corcoran is embracing the challenge that lays before them.

“They’ve some very big names that we would’ve grown up looking up to so it’s really cool that we’re playing at that level.

“It’ll be great to look back on but we’re trying not to get too carried away with the big occasion and the big names, we’ll try to stick to our game as much as possible.

“We mightn’t have as many big names but I think the quality is evenly spread throughout our team. We’ll try to stick to what we’re good at and pick out a few of their key players and see how it all goes.”