All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie - Final
Antrim 1-22
Laois 0-11
At Croke Park
ROISIN MCCORMACK'S goal on the 49th minute virtually crowned her side as All-Ireland champions as the Saffrons destroyed Laois at Croke Park to clinch the 2026 Intermediate final on Sunday afternoon.
McCormack's strike with little time remaining helped stretch Antrim's lead to nine-points and the Saffron County's name was beginning to be etched into the Jack McGrath Cup with ten minutes to go.
The game opened up with a tit-for-tat approach and neither side could be separated in the early moments.
Lucia McNaughton and Eobha McAllister's early white flags for Antrim were soon matched when Gráinne Delaney and Clodagh Tynan fired scores over the bar inside the first five minutes.
The Saffrons eventually clicked into gear just after the tenth minute, and Roisin McCormack drilled a trio of scores with two frees helping her side to a three-point lead midway through the half.
McCormack and Eabha McAllister hit another tally of scores with Catherine Kirby striking for a white flag in between the Saffron points.
Laois did rally and scores from Gráinne Delaney and Aimee Collier helped carve into the deficit and when Maeve Kelly found space to plant a great strike between the uprights with the whistle sounding and only four-points separating the counties at the break.
The Leinster county began the second-half with a fierce tenacity and Collier and Tynan helped them to look on their way to a remarkable comeback.
McCormack fired over another free for the Saffrons, and the Loughgiel club-woman looked desperate to carry the county on her shoulders as she looked formidable from the dead-ball for Antrim.
HUGE GOAL: Roisin McCormack's second-half goal proved pivotal
Antrim would eventually begin to pull away, despite Delaney's score from the far-left bringing Laois within two points of drawing level, but Janey McIntosh shrugged off the pressure to blast a score between the uprights from a tight angle, and McCormack once again cracked a magnificent score over the bar.
The Saffrons then stood up and looked determined to put Laois to bed.
The Antrim full-back line didn’t concede a score from play over the course of the game while Shannagh Hegarty stood firm on the 45, blocking down three Laois attempts on goal and executing a handful of outstanding clearances.
Now attention turned back to their forwards, and Eabha McAllister grasped possession in the left wing and put a pass on a plate for Hegarty who pointed without any drama.
A long delivery into a crowded area saw the breaking ball fall perfectly for McCormick to scoop it up on the run.
The space just appeared in front of the Loughgiel star and she drove at the heart of the back-line and used a cute jink to deceive her marker, before planting the slíotar into the back of the net.
Laois did show some hope of a more respectable scoreline with Tynan hitting a couple of strikes over the black spot, but Maeve Kelly, Eabha McAllister and of course the star of the show McCormack all tallied another seven scores for Antrim.
Roisin McCormack struck the final blow and sealed the win for Elaine Dowds and her team and the jubilation of saffron and white coloured the stands of Croke Park in celebration.
ANTRIM: C Graham; C Patterson, C Conlon, C McNaughton; C McKillop, K Molloy, S Hegarty; A Boyle, L McNaughton; M Kelly, R McCormick, N McAtamney; J McIntosh, C Griffin, E McAllister.
Subs: S O’Neill for Molloy (half-time), E McIntosh for J McIntosh (48), O McAllister for McAtamney (48), D Dobbin for Patterson (56), A Ferris for McNaughton (56).
SCORERS FOR ANTRIM: R McCormick 1-11 (0-5fs, 0-2 45s); E McAllister 0-5; M Kelly 0-3; L McNaughton, J McIntosh, S Hegarty 0- each
LAOIS XV: A Lowry; L Finlay, A Finlay, K Whelan; L Conroy, C Tynan, R Deegan; S Creagh, J Bergin; K O’Keeffe, G Delaney, C Kirby; K Keenan, A Collier, S Delaney.
Subs: E Hassett for Kirby (36), A O’Dea for Keenan (45), A Lacey for Deegan (52), S Fleming for O’Keeffe (57), A Carroll for Whelan (57).
SCORERS FOR LAOIS: C Tynan 0-4 (0-2f), G Delaney 0-3, A Collier 0-2f, C Kirby 0-1, K O’Keeffe 0-1
REFEREE: Joe Mullins (Clare).
