Big hurdle for Mayo's Claremorris in All-Ireland semi-final

It might be taking place in December, but it promises to be one of the most important games played in Canon Gibbons Park, Claremorris, for a very long time when the hometown club play Derry and Ulster intermediate champions, Erins Own Lavey, in the LGFA All-Ireland junior championship semi-final on Sunday at 1.30 p.m., writes Aiden Henry.

Claremorris, as the newly crowned Mayo and Connacht champions, always knew that should they win these two titles, they would have the added bonus of playing the All-Ireland semi-final at home. Now, on home soil, they are just 60 minutes away from reaching the summit and the chance of winning the All-Ireland.

To say that the exploits of this Claremorris team so far this season have been remarkable would be an understatement. After getting relegated from the intermediate grade last year, they lost a big number of players from the team.

However, under manager Aidan Brennan, they regrouped and with the addition of 10 minors and two Under 16 players to the squad for this year's championship, they have come on in leaps and bounds all year and developed into a brilliant new team which has a mixture of youth and experience.

At the start of the year the goal of the team was to win the Mayo title. This they did in magnificent fashion. Anything after this was always going to be a bonus. But again, in the Connacht club championship, they produced the goods.

In the Connacht decider Claremorris were pitted against a very good Leitrim side, St. Brigid's. Brigid's caught the eye with a magnificent victory over the Galway champions in the semi-final and on account of this victory, they were very much favourites to beat Claremorris in the final.

But Claremorris rose to the occasion and produced another brilliant performance to run out fully deserving winners.

Now with two titles under their belt, it would be a brave person to bet against them winning a third before the year is out. However, we can be certain that Claremorris will not be looking beyond Sunday’s game against the Derry girls. Indeed, they will be fully aware they will be meeting a team that will be very tough to beat.

If Claremorris had to rebuild this year, the story behind their semi-final opponents is even more remarkable. Their club, Erins Own, was only formed six years ago and fielded an adult team for the first time ever last year. Remarkably, in their first year they won the Derry junior championship.

However, with the Derry junior champions not allowed to play in the Ulster championship (only the Derry intermediate champions are allowed to play in the Ulster championship), their season ended after their county final success. But they came back this year to win the intermediate title and thus were eligible to play in the Ulster junior championship.

In successive seasons, Erins Own have won the county junior and intermediate titles, and are now just 60 minutes away from playing in an All-Ireland final.

SERIOUS QUESTIONS

By all accounts, Erins Own have a very strong panel of young players. Their manager is Brian Scullion, who won an All-Ireland club medal with Lavey, while Mary Jo Boyle, who knows all about winning too from her time playing for three-time Ulster winners Glen, is also part of the management team.

Like Claremorris, they were asked serious questions in the Ulster final before defeating Donegal’s Dungloe by a point, 2-11 to 1-13. Indeed, with almost 10 minutes gone in the second half, Erins Own found themselves five points down. However, a goal from team captain Caitriona Toner just as the game entered the final quarter brought them back into contention. The same player gave them their lead with three minutes remaining and they held on for the one-point win.

It shows that this Lavey side never give up and are great battlers. They have a lot of good players all over the field, including Toner, Carla Collins and Aoife Shaw (a good place-kicker).

On top of that, the confidence gained from winning the Ulster title will have been a great boost to them.

However, I feel this Claremorris team is only going to get better and better, and if they can reproduce their Connacht final performance they should prove too strong for Lavey on Sunday afternoon.