Ulster camogs simply the best

With a tremendous display of camogie and showing great heart and determination, the Ulster senior camogie team, led by Derry's Claire Doherty, brought the Gael-Linn Senior Inter-Provincial title back to the province after a 40 year wait and for only the second time in the history of the competition.

Drawing from four junior counties and traditionally written off as complete underdogs by the southerners, the Ulster girls earned their silverware the hard way, first taking on the might of Munster in the semi-final and then defending champions, Leinster, in the final, with neither province fielding any player from junior counties. And as if wasn't enough to take on the two superpowers, fate dealt Ulster another major challenge when Connaught failed to field in the other semi-final, thus handing Leinster a bye to the final against an Ulster team which had to dig deep in their semi-final and with only an hour between the two matches.

Lifting the Gael-Linn Senior cup capped an amazing year for Claire, having already captained Derry to Ulster and All-Ireland Junior championship victories. In total, Derry had nine players on the panel, along with six from Down, four from Antrim and one from Armagh. Though dismissed by many as no-hopers, Ulster were quietly confident of causing an upset as they were travelling to Dublin with their strongest panel for some time, and they were planning to capitalise on any complacency on the part of their opponents. It was important that Ulster would get a good start, and they managed to do that against a Munster team made up of Cork, Tipperary and Limerick players. Playing with two up and a spare player sweeping around the half-back line, Ulster started brightly and raced into a five point lead, and despite a resurgence by Munster, who now realised they had a game on their hands, Ulster held a 0-8 to 0-5 lead at half-time. With the wind in their backs, Munster applied more pressure in the second half and came to within a point of Ulster, with both sides scoring two goals each. Munster had a sustained period of intense pressure around the Ulster goalmouth in the last quarter, with a string of shots on goal, but the Ulster defence resolutely held firm and restricted them to occasional points. Growing more confident as the game wore on, Ulster started reasserting themselves further up the field again, and two quick goals gave them the cushion they needed to see the game out with a well deserved five point victory, 4-9 to 2-10.

Ulster had precious little time to rest on their laurels, though, as they had only an hour's rest before the final.  To take on the holders, Leinster, would be a huge ask at the best of times, but the odds against them increased considerably considering Leinster were coming into the game fresh due to Connaught's non-appearance. Ulster had also lost the surprise element, and their opponents had an opportunity to see their line-up. On the other hand, the Ulster players had proved to themselves in the previous game that they were more than capable of mixing it with the best, and knew that if they could produce another similar performance, they wouldn't be far away.

Ulster played with the wind in the first half, and set about their task in style. After twenty minutes of fast and skilful camogie and a succession of excellent points, Ulster led by 0-9 to 0-1 and had a couple of gilt-edged goal chances that might have killed the game. Between then and half-time, though, Leinster came to terms with Ulster's defensive ploy, and aided by some bizarre refereeing decisions, came back strongly to cut Ulster's lead at half-time to four points, 0-11 to 1-4. With fatigue going to be a major factor in the second half, Ulster got just the tonic they needed when the irrepressible Jane Adams flashed home two goals in as many minutes to leave Ulster nine points up with twenty minutes left. From then to the end of the match, Ulster faced a continuous onslaught from Leinster and were largely reduced themselves to sporadic raids upfield. The Ulster girls, to a player, defended valiantly, but Leinster eventually broke through for two goals, and in a frantic last five minutes, managed to draw level. This, however, spurred the northerners to one last rally, and after a couple of misses Katie McAuley struck over from the 45m line to give Ulster the slimmest of leads. Two minutes of tense play followed, with Leinster on all-out attack and Ulster on all-out defence. Ulster kept their nerve and discipline, however, and denied Leinster any clearcut opportunities until the final seconds. And it was fitting that the final act of the game would mirror Ulster's never-say-die attitude, as Ashling Diamond covered half the pitch to get a last ditch block on Leinster's Kate Kelly as she seemed certain to stroke over an equaliser. A mini-scrum developed, and seconds later the referee blew the final whistle with the scoreline reading Ulster 2-12 to Leinster's 3-10, triggering scenes of great joy among the Ulster contingent.

In the circumstances, this was a remarkable achievement by the Ulster players. Winning one match might have been dismissed by some as a fluke, but stringing two such performances together proved beyond any doubt that the northern girls were worthy of their title, particularly given Leinster's advantage in coming in to the game fresh. At no time in either match were they behind, and nearly all their scores in both games were from play. Ulster had the star performer of the day in Jane Adams, worthy winner of the Player of the Tournament, but the most satisfying aspect of the performance from an Ulster camogie point of view was that all the Ulster players seemed comfortable at this level. It proves that, whatever about the junior ranking of the Ulster counties, the best of the north are every bit as good as the best of the rest.

Gael-Linn Senior Final: Ulster 2-12, Leinster 3-10

Ulster: Claire O'Kane (Derry); Ciara McGovern (Down), Moya Maginn (Down), Kate Laverty (Derry); Karen McMullan (Down), Claire Doherty (Derry) (capt.), Maureen Barry (Antrim) (0-1); Grainne McGoldrick (Derry) (0-2), Fionnuala Carr (Down); Karen Gribben (Down), Jane Adams (Antrim) (2-5), Briege Convery (Derry) (0-1); Sinead Cassidy (Derry) (0-2), Katie McAuley (Derry) (0-1), Ashling Diamond (Derry). Substitutes: Jacinta Dixon (Antrim) for Cassidy, Jane Carey (Derry) for McGovern, Rhona Torney (Antrim), Colette McSorley (Armagh), Sarah-Louise Carr (Down).