Donnelly: We want to write our own Ulster chapter

By Shaun Casey

BROCAGH are aiming to keep the Bridie McMenamin Shield in the Red Hand County according to Tyrone captain Siobhan Donnelly as they face Aghaderg of Down on Sunday afternoon.

Éire Óg Carrickmore captured the crown last season before going on to clinch the Ulster Junior B title this season, showing that pathway is there to follow. Naomh Treasa have also shown the way in recent years.

Brocagh won’t be looking that far ahead just yet of course, but Donnelly feels the side are in a good enough position to give this weekend’s decider a real crack.

“Tyrone teams have done well in this competition before,” said Donnelly. “Carrickmore are a great example of that, with what they did last year, and then they pushed on to win the Junior B this year.

“Dungannon before them won this competition a few times and then went on to win Junior B Ulster and Junior B All-Irelands, so we’d hope to follow in the footsteps of those teams.

“Seeing Carrickmore win before our semi-final, it gave us a bit of a boost, knowing that we can compete well with them. It gave us a bit of confidence in our ability to do well in Ulster.”

Brocagh have only played once in the competition, and that was their 3-4 to 1-9 semi-final victory over St Brigid’s of Armagh, having earned a bye into the last four.

Their opponents Aghaderg have two games and two wins under their belts however having defeated both Bailieborough and Drum to book their spot in the showpiece.

Donnelly however doesn’t feel her side has been disadvantaged by the draw.

“We’ve organised our own friendlies and things to make up for that,” she explained.

“Our semi-final match was a real tough battle, it was very narrow, and we only won by a point, but the other semi-final was the same. That semi-final was a tough match and hopefully that’ll stand to us in the final.”

It’s new territory for the Tyrone ladies as Brocagh have never reached an Ulster final before, so the team don’t really know what to expect but the entire club has enjoyed the build-up and are looking forward to the game.

Keeping away from the hype and the excitement that has engulfed the community may be a bit of a challenge for the girls but they’re all buzzing to get going

“There’s a great buzz around Brocagh, it’s our first time ever getting to an Ulster final, so it feels unreal.

“It’s not something that we’re used to, having such hype around, so we’re just trying as best we can to focus.

“We’ve had a few training sessions now since the semi-final so it’s just getting into it and trying to focus on the match itself.”

On Aghaderg, Donnelly continued, “We don’t actually know anything about them so there’s a bit of the unknown there, but our management will have some contacts, and they’ll get the homework done.”