TG4 Ulster Ladies Championship Round-up
The TG4 Ulster Ladies Championship will soon be upon us. The weekend of June 22nd and 23rd will see the intermediate and senior semi finals played as double headers. There is no junior championship this year – however Derry will represent the province in the All Ireland series.
SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
First up is the meeting of Monaghan and Donegal on Saturday 22nd June. At this stage Monaghan will be red hot favorites to win. The Farney side is the current Ulster champions and won seven league games in a row before losing in the semi final to Mayo. Along the way they met Donegal and comprehensively beat them 2-17 to 1-5. Donegal on the other hand had poor league campaign, suffering some very heavy defeats. They only won two of their games – against Meath and Dublin. Monaghan will be at full strength bar new injuries however Donegal have had a number of players leave the squad to emigrate in search of employment. The Tir Chonnail girls may not be the force they were a few years back, but on the day fifteen will face fifteen with a place in the July 14th final at stake.
The second senior decider will see the meeting of Tyrone and Armagh in Inniskeen on Sunday 23rd June. This is a local derby and should be the pick of the four semi finals. Tyrone is a side in transition. They have a new manager who has retained a number of experienced players but who is also trying to integrate the red hand minors of the past few years into the set up. They had a poor Division 1 league campaign but with two wins, secured premier status for another year. They have also entered the Aisling Mc Ging U21 competition thus giving competitive football to a number of senior players. Armagh on the other hand had a brilliant Division 3 league campaign before falling short in the final against Down. There is a consistency about the Orchard girls but there are two big questions ahead of the game. Firstly they will be playing a team from Division1. Will they be able to cope with the pace and power that comes with Division 1 football? The more important question is how did the last minute league defeat to Down affect them? All those questions will be answered on June 23rd in what should be a cracking game of football.
INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP
The first of the two intermediate deciders takes place on Saturday 22nd June when Fermanagh meet Antrim. On paper Fermanagh should win this one as they play in Division 2 of the league and Antrim play their football in Division 4, however nothing can be taken for granted come championship time. Fermanagh had a poor league campaign, winning just two games. A number of experienced players have hung up their boots and now might be just the right time for Antrim to cause an upset. The Saffrons may play two divisions below but they had four wins, made the league playoffs and have a number of their team playing on the Antrim U21 side in the Aisling Mc Ging competition. This one really is too close to call.
The meeting of Down and Cavan in the other intermediate semi final should be a great game. Down are the Division 3 league champions and will play in the same Division as Cavan next year. The Mourne girls have shown a steely determination all year and regularly, when it looked like they were dead and buried they secured victories by never giving up. Cavan have a new management team and they secured their Division 2 status in a mediocre league campaign. They lost a few games but never by big margins. This will be an interesting tie and at the final whistle there should be very little in it. The winner of this game will believe they can go all the way to Croker in September.
