Ulster Ladies Junior Championship Final
Antrim 4-17 Derry 0-8
 
ANTRIM produced a devastating second half performance to blitz Derry to retain the Ulster Ladies Junior title at Davitt Park on Saturday evening.
First half goals from Cathy Carey and Meabh McCurdy gave the hosts a slender 2-3 to 0-6 lead at the break with Derry enjoying the wind advantage for the first 30 minutes.
However, the Oak Leafers were totally overrun in the second half with Antrim hitting 1-8 without reply from the restart with Caitlin Taggart bagging Antrim’s third major.
The rout was completed when substitute Theresa Mallon capped a fine display with her side’s fourth goal of the contest.
The sides will meet again next month in the All-Ireland series with Corrigan Park set to host the clash on Saturday, July 10.

Antrim captain Aislinn McFarland with the cup
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Antrim captain Aislinn McFarland with the cup


Antrim boss Emma Kelly will be hoping full-back Orla Corr recovers in time for the rematch on her home pitch after the St John’s defender was forced to retire from the game with an ankle injury.
Apart from the injury to her full-back, the Antrim manager was delighted with the result and hailed her side’s stunning second half showing.
“Orla Corr is one of those players we kept on for nearly every minute of the League, unless she was sin-binned,” said Kelly.
“We knew Orla would stick her foot where she shouldn’t at some point, we just didn’t want it to happen that early.
“We had to move players out of position and we’ll take credit for Grainne McLaughlin getting Player-of-the-Match because we moved her to midfield.
“To be fair, every single one of the girls stepped up. At half-time, we weren’t happy.
“We started off very well in the first five minutes, then we went to sleep and thought it was going to be easy
“At half-time, myself and Kyla (Trainor) went through them and told them they hadn’t started playing. I think we noticed when they came out in the second half, there was a buzz there and another gear.
“Scoring 4-17 in any game is immense, but in a final is just brilliant.”
Playing against the breeze, Antrim landed the opening three points of the contest inside four minutes with Carey scoring after just 30 seconds before a brace from Taggart.
Derry’s first point arrived on eight minutes via a free from Deirbhie McNicholl, but they conceded their first goal soon after.
A shot from distance from McLaughlin was palmed down by Derry goalkeeper Louise Gunn and she wasn’t able to regather possession under pressure from Carey who scored to give Antrim an early 1-3 to 0-1 lead.
To their credit, Derry responded well and cut the deficit with scores from Breena O’Loughlin (two frees), McNicholl.
Yet, after the first water break, they conceded their second goal when a speculative effort from McCurdy found the top corner of Gunn’s net.


The loss of Corr to an ankle injury perhaps unsettled the Saffons and they failed to score for the remainder of the half while Derry tagged on further points from Ella Rose Sainsbury and Leah McGonagle (free) to trail by two at the half-time interval.
Whatever was said by the management at half-time clearly had the desired effect on Antrim as they put the game beyond Derry’s reach with a ruthless 10-minute spell during which they hit their rivals for 1-8 without reply.
Mallon, McCurdy (two), Aoife Taggart, Carey (two frees) and McLaughlin all rattled off points before Antrim struck for their third goal.
Carey won the Derry kick-out which resulted in Caitlin Taggart being played through on goal and the Aldergrove attacker finished in style.
McCurdy could have added another moments later, but her shot was saved by Gunn.
On 42 minutes, Carey fired over another from play to leave Antrim leading 3-11 to 0-6.
Derry ended the onslaught with a free via substitute Emma Doherty, but Antrim hit back with a stunning point from raiding wing-back Áine Tubridy while Caitlin Taggart and Mallon added further points.

Antrim's Aoife Taggart breaks clear of Derry's Caoimhe Kirkpatrick
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Antrim's Aoife Taggart breaks clear of Derry's Caoimhe Kirkpatrick


Ciara McGurk forced Anna McCann into a smart save after the second water break, but Derry’s chances were few and far between. In contrast, Antrim were hungry for more goals with McLaughlin seeing her shot saved by Gunn before the Saffrons landed their fourth and final goal.

St Brigid’s ace Mallon made her claim for a starting berth in the All-Ireland series when she forced a turnover before firing low past Gunn to move Antrim 4-15 to 0-7 ahead.

The last two scores of the evening came from the impressive pair of McCurdy and McLaughlin with the former being named Player-of-the-Match as Antrim march on to their forthcoming All-Ireland campaign with renewed confidence and optimism.
 
ANTRIM: A McCann; N McIntosh, O Corr, R Hemsworth; A McFarland, M Blaney, A Tubridy (0-1); E Ferran, C Brown; N Enright, C Carey (1-5, 0-2fs), G McLaughlin (0-2); A Taggart (0-1), M McCurdy (1-3), C Taggart (1-3, 0-1f).
Subs: N Webb for Hemsworth (18), T Mallon (1-2) for Corr (24), E Morgan for A Taggart (47), C Stewart for Tubridy (55), D Coleman for C Taggart (58).
 
DERRY: L Gunn; N Brown, A McGough, G Conway; A Frizzelle, D Kivlehan, C Kirkpatrick; A McAllistair, R McAllister; C McGurk, ER Sainsbury (0-1), E Doherty; B O’Loughlin (0-2, 0-2fs), D McNicholl (0-3, 0-1f), L McGonagle (0-1, 0-1f).
Subs: E Doherty (0-1, 0-1f) for McGonagle (37), C Moore for O’Loughlin (48), B McMullan for Kirkpatrick (48), A O’Loughlin for Frizzelle (48), J Corr for Brown (55).
 
REFEREE: K McKeever (Armagh).