TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Junior Football Championship Round One
Antrim v Derry (Saturday, 2pm, Corrigan Park)
IT was less than a fortnight ago when Aislinn McFarland lifted the Ulster JFC trophy after Antrim’s comprehensive victory over Derry at Davitt’s.
Now, the Antrim skipper will hope to guide her county to another win over the same opposition in Saturday’s All-Ireland opener at Corrigan Park.
Antrim claimed a facile 4-17 to 0-8 win over the Oak Leafers thanks largely to a stunning second half performance.
The home side led 2-3 to 0-6 at half-time thanks to goals from Cathy Carey and Meabh McCurdy, but hit 1-8 without reply on the restart as second half majors from Caitlin Taggart and substitute Theresa Mallon rounded off an emphatic 21-point victory.
McFarland admits it isn’t ideal to be facing off against the same opposition in back-to-back games having also defeated Derry in Celtic Park in the League, but she insists their recent wins will count for little if they don’t repeat the feat this weekend.
“Yeah, it is a strange situation and we’ve been in this position before with Fermanagh when it seems we were playing the same team week in, week out,” said McFarland.
“That’s the danger for us that complacency can slip in. I don’t think we’ll be taking anything for granted – it is still the first round of the All-Ireland and we can’t take anyone lightly.
“We might have beaten Derry twice, but we can’t get ahead of ourselves. We’ve changed our system and that was evident in the first half against Derry – we were only a few points up at the break.
“We got off to a good start against them in the League and they fought back. I think whoever starts the strongest, finishes on top. They fought back at the end of the first half, but we hit 1-8 with no reply and that killed the game off.”
Antrim defeated Derry 4-17 to 0-8 at Davitt Park to claim the Ulster JFC title 
The Antrim skipper also revealed that a half-time ‘wake-up’ call didn’t just come from the management team of Emma Kelly and Kyla Trainor.
“It was more from the girls,” added McFarland.
“I don’ t think anyone really had a good first half in terms of performance. We were slow to start.
“Our big focus was not to concede any goals and we managed to stick to that. A few of the older girls, the likes of Cathy Carey and Áine Tubridy, had things to say and it is good to see that coming from the players, not just from Emma and Kyla.
“The system started to work. Something with struggled with in the past is communication and it is working we have been working hard on in recent weeks. It was great to see that hard work pay off on the pitch.”
The evening of Saturday, June 26 was certainly a memorable one for McFarland’s native Bredagh club in South Belfast.
While McFarland led Antrim to Ulster Junior Championship success, many of her club colleagues helped Down clinch the Intermediate title against Fermanagh in Newry, including Down skipper Laoise Duffy.
“It is not often that happens! Credit to the Down girls – they had a super win as well,” added McFarland.
“It was a great day for Ladies Gaelic football in Bredagh. The talent in our club is unbelievable and there should be some damage done later in the year too.”
Antrim made the most of home advantage when they took on Derry at Davitt Park last month and Corrigan Park will host Saturday’s rematch between the counties after Antrim won the toss.
However, the remaining games against Carlow, Limerick and Wicklow will be at neutral venues and McFarland knows Antrim need to make a winning start to their All-Ireland campaign on Saturday.
“It was great to have the crowd behind us and it was nice to have so many people coming out last Saturday at Davitt’s,” said the Antrim captain.
“To hear voices coming from the sidelines. . . it is something we haven’t experienced in so long because of Covid-19.
“Hopefully we can get a good start the next day at Corrigan and build a bit of momentum from there.
“If you lose your first game, it is hard to get going for the rest of the games.” Antrim are sweating on the fitness of full-back Orla Corr who sustained an ankle injury in the early stages of the Ulster Final win over Derry while Saoirse Tennyson may be fit to feature at some point as she continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
