Connolly explains hunger in the Antrim team

ANTRIM put a new management team in place this year in Paul McKillen, Jim McKernan and Elaine Dowds and, for many, the Saffrons may have seemed like a work in progress.

Yet this year they have managed to go on an incredible run all the way to the All-Ireland final where they will face Down.

According to Loughgiel player Maeve Connolly, there is a reason why the Saffrons have enjoyed such a fine run of success this season.

“There is a great hunger there among the team. That is what drives people on. Everybody is putting 100 per cent effort.

“There are no bluffers. Everyone is there putting in the effort. Everyone is there to train, and to train hard. There is a great team morale and a great team spirit.

“There is no sticking with your club mates. There are no silly wee things that could happen. Everyone has mucked in.”

Antrim beat Carlow in round one, Meath in round two and then put on an incredible performance to beat Laois in the semi-final by 0-14 to 0-3.

Connolly said: “The management have been amazing at getting us up for games. They have been good at laying out good teams.

“They are telling us what we are doing wrong and what we are doing right. They are good a setting out a plan.”

According to Connolly Antrim’s run this season was not expected.

“I wouldn’t have believed at the start of the year that we would be lining out in an All-Ireland final but we are delighted to be in that position. We had new mentors come in this year and we thought we would be building for two or three years down the line.”

Perhaps their success shouldn’t have been a surprise to Connolly and co. Antrim had a good start in the league and got good results against Tipperary and Dublin. That was a good foundation. But then Covid hit and action stopped.

Connolly believes that those matches still helped.

“Because we started strong a lot of girls took encouragement from that, a lot of ones were mad keen to get back, and it even brought on a few new players as well. That helped us.”

What is also positive is that this weekend’s match will be live on television and online. That’s a development put in place to satisfy the hordes of fans who can’t go because of Covid.

“The fact that we’re getting coverage through the BBC iPlayer and RTE is great, Covid times have provided a great opportunity for coverage.

“It is important for friends and families to see the games because they can’t be there.”

Their opponents are their rivals Down, who were beaten in last year’s semi-final, and who won the 2014 Premier Junior title.

Connolly said that the Mourne camogs present a serious proposition.

“They are well gelled together as they have been playing together for years. They have experienced success. They have got further than ourselves. They are a great team and we have respect for them.”

Connolly has enjoyed a good deal of success as a club player with Loughgiel. That experience stands her in good stead.

“We have been lucky in Loughgiel. The team has evolved over the last nine, 10 years. But in the past four years we have been unlucky in Ulster finals against Sleacht Néill. You can take positivity, they have been dominant in the club scene so to come close to them is a positive. You do think you are in and around that area.

“We do have experience of playing on the big days and that will help.”

One challenge is perhaps the trip. They have to travel to Cavan to play in Kingspan Breffni. Connolly wasn’t sure if it was good or bad.

“It might only seem bad because we are playing Down. They are so close to us.

“Possibly if we were playing a team down south a halfway venue we might have to travel. It’s a little disappointing that we have to wait around for so long, but we understand that they want to have a double header. They want to accommodate the both of us. In the camogie world things don’t always go your way. As a player you try not to focus on those things, and I won’t think about those things.”