Littlewoods National Camogie League Division Two final
Down 3-8 Antrim 1-11
A 57th minute goal from Anna Rogan proved the decisive moment as Down found the answers to repel a magnificent fightback at Owenbeg to claim the Division Two camogie final.
The Castlewellan woman found the net after the Saffrons had battled back from seven down to level, but were caught on the counter when pouring forward looking for the lead score.
This was an absorbing contest with Antrim beginning brightly, but Down - their conquered in last year's All-Ireland Intermediate final - took charge in the second quarter and only for some wasteful shooting, could have been well out of sight at the break.
But Antrim rose to the challenge superbly and dominated for the majority of the second period and just when it appeared they were on course for a stunning victory and promotion to the top-flight, the Mourne women countered and engineered what proved to be the crucial score.
The fightback was led superbly by by Nicole O'Neill and Róisín McCormick who led the way in attack, but Down had their own stars with player of the game, Socha McCartan in fine form along with the hugely impressive Niamh Mallon as the pair banged home quick fire goals at the end of the opening half to give the victors their platform.
Nicole O'Neill bursts past Aoife Keown
Playing with the wind advantage, Down were first to register on 40 seconds when Antrim's Maeve Kelly dropped a shot short and the ball was quickly transferred upfield where Sarah-Louise Graffin fired over.
Antrim responded immediately through O'Neill, but Down were back in front with McCartan finding her range.
It was a lively opening to the game with Kelly proving a handful early and the Ballycastle woman picked out McCormick who drilled over before Kelly then gave Antrim their first lead with a stunning stroke from the tightest of angles on the right.
McCartan levelled the game as again as her rasping shot on the run just cleared the bar, but Antrim were ahead at the water break with Caitrin Dobbin pointing on the run and they extended their advantage on the resumption through a Nicole O'Neill free.
However, it was clear that Down were beginning to take a grip on this game as they dominated around the middle and created a number of chances, but were off-target from frees and play until pointed frees from McCartan and Mallon levelled the game on 25 minutes.
Down's dominance finally paid off when Mallon did brilliantly to race through the Antrim defence at pace and produced a composed finish to bat to the net.
A McCartan point on the turn extended their advantage, but it would get much better in the first minute of stoppage time as Sarah-Louise Graffin played an excellent ball into space on the right and with no Antrim defenders in the vicinity, McCartan had all the time in the world to gather and pick her spot, firing low to the net.
Niamh Mallon gets past Katie McKillop
It seemed Antrim were in real trouble, but they did find a response before the short whistle as O'Neill pointed one the left to leave it 2-6 to 0-6 in favour of Down at the half.
Antrim really needed to gain a foothold and they used the half-time break wisely to reorganise with the switches doing the trick as gradually they began to boss the second period.
O'Neill and Mallon traded early points, but Antrim began to eat into the gap with Róisín McCormick and Anna Connolly pointing to leave just four between the teams at the water break.
The Saffrons powered on when play resumed with Nicole O'Neill landing a free and then on 54 minutes they got the goal to level as McCormick did superbly to take down the ball and weave to the right where she had the space to shoot low to the net.
It seemed Antrim had all the momentum and they poured forward in search of the lead score, but Down held firm to repel their advances and when a shot dropped short, they broke brilliantly with Antrim's defence lacking numbers as Graffin burst forward with space in front. The Clonduff woman passed inside to Mallon who did the unselfish thing and off-loaded to Rogan who rounded Antrim goalkeeper Catriona Graham and finished to the empty net with 57 minutes gone.
Anna Rogan celebrates her late goal
Antrim went in search of the scores to get back into it and McCormick split the posts to leave to in it and ensure the game was on a knife-edge, but they couldn't engineer the scores they needed with a Mallon 45 giving Down breathing space and the Mourne women stood firm as Antrim frantically searched for the levelling goal to claim victory, the Division two title and promotion.
DOWN: C McGourty; E Rafferty, D Magee, C Caldwell; B Fitzpatrick, K McMullan, D Savage; P O'Hagan, A Keown; A McAleenan, SL Graffin (0-1), S McCartan (1-4, 0-1 free); L Clarke, N Mallon (1-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 45), A Rogan (1-0). Sub: D Harrison for E Rafferty (41)
ANTRIM: C Graham; K McKillop, C Conlon, M Lynn; C Patterson, N Donnelly, L McKenna; L McNaughton, A Boyle; M Kelly (0-1), A Connolly (0-1), N O'Neill (0-5, 2 frees); R McCormick (1-3), Ciara Laverty, C Dobbin (0-1). Subs: S Devlin for L McKenna (HT), Christine Laverty for Ciara Laverty (57)
REFEREE: Barry Nea (Westmeath)
