by Kevin Egan

The showpiece event in the camogie calendar, Glen Dimplex All-Ireland final day, is taking shape after a busy afternoon of semi-final action spread across Kingspan Breffni and Glenisk O’Connor Park.

It was a great day for the sport in Ulster as all three counties from the northern province that were in action secured their place in Croke Park, building on the momentum that was started by Monaghan in the All-Ireland Junior final last weekend.

Antrim will play Laois in the intermediate decider on August 9, while the premier junior final will see Armagh take on Cavan to kick off the action in three weeks’ time.

Goals were the difference in Antrim’s game against Meath at Breffni Park, with Éabha McAllister first to hit the net for the Saffrons. Clíona Griffin did most of the heavy lifting with a sensational run down the right wing and after she broke a robust challenge and advantage was being played, McAllister was free to take the pass and go for twine, picking out the bottom left corner from 15 metres out.

Playing into a strong breeze, Meath responded well, kicked off by a monster free from distance from Aoife Minogue. Emma Regan fired over three in succession to draw them level, and it took an inspirational strike from Maeve Kelly to wrest the initiative back Antrim’s way.

The game was still in the melting pot five minutes into the second half when McAllister hit the net a second time, surgically placing the ball inside the near post from a tight angle, and Antrim kept five or six between the teams until Griffin struck the clinching goal in a 3-10 to 0-12 win.

Seven points was the margin in Tullamore for the other semi-final as well, but it felt much more comprehensive as Laois conceded a goal at the start of each half and still eased to a 1-17 to 2-7 win.

Jackie Horgan pounced on a dropped ball to fire in the opening goal inside 60 seconds and Kerry doubled that lead with three quick points, only for Laois to hit back with six in a row.

Gráinne Delaney ended a run of three Laois wides with a pointed free, Kaylee O’Keeffe missed a goal chance but raised the white flag, and there were further scores from play from Aimee Collier and Sarah Creagh to level the game, with the breeze favouring Kerry at this point.

1-4 to 0-8 behind at half-time, Kate Lynch gave Kerry another super start to the second half and they led by three approaching the midway point of the period, but were simply overrun from then on, conceding 1-7 without reply. Collier struck four frees to bring her tally to eight points overall, while Eimear Hassett’s late goal confirmed a return to Croke Park for last year’s premier junior champions.

Armagh, the beaten team as Laois prevailed 12 months ago, went into this year’s campaign as the overwhelming favourites and they showed all their class in a high-quality, high-scoring semi-final win over Roscommon, 4-19 to 2-19.

Roscommon did their best hurling in the first half, inspired by a wonderful performance from Orla Connolly, who finished with 1-9 on the day.

Player of the match, Sinéad Quinn found the net from a long range shot while Rachel Trainor notched 0-7 in the first half alone, but turning around with the wind at their backs, Roscommon were well poised when they trailed by just two (1-11 to 0-12) at half-time.

This game was effectively decided in the five minutes after the interval when Armagh scored 2-3 unanswered, the goals coming from Rachel Trainor and Corina Doyle.

Roscommon rallied late and reduced the gap to three points briefly on the back of Connolly’s goal and a Rachel Dooley point, but Armagh won the next puckout as Quinn set up Trainor for the decisive score of the game.

Cavan’s group form made them heavy favourites over Kildare in the other semi-final, but the Lilywhites pushed their opponents all the way in Tullamore before losing out by 2-12 to 1-9.

Hannah Fitzsimons gave Cavan a perfect start with a sideline cut that was deflected to the Kildare net and they were seven points ahead midway through the half, only to be reeled in and overtaken by a sensational Kildare second quarter. Caoimhe Ní Bhuirceall found the net and late points from Aoife Stynes and Aoife McDermott put two between them at half-time.

The second half was one-way traffic however as Kildare couldn’t get going up front in the face of a dominant Cavan half-back line of Aideen Coyle, Alannah Tierney and Rebecca Fitzsimons, while Niamh Keenaghan’s 1-1 and two Shanise Fitzsimons points backboned Cavan’s surge to victory.

RESULTS:

GLEN DIMPLEX INTERMEDIATE SEMI-FINALS

Antrim 3-10 Meath 0-12

Laois 1-17 Kerry 2-7

GLEN DIMPLEX ALL-IRELAND PREMIER JUNIOR SEMI-FINALS

Armagh 4-19 Roscommon 2-19

Cavan 2-12 Kildare 1-9

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