St. Dominic’s hoping to make it third time lucky

St. Dominic’s will be hoping that third time’s a charm as they prepare for their All-Ireland Junior A semi-final against St. Peter’s Dunboyne on Saturday in Banagher (throw-in at 1 p.m.).

John Haughey’s side will be aiming to go one better than they did in 2019 and 2022 when they lost their last four clashes against Raharney and Knockananna respectively.

Although the Roscommon champions lost their Connacht intermediate final by one point against Killimor on Sunday week last, manager John Haughey insists that knowing this game was coming ever since getting the better of Oran in the county final was a huge boost.

“It does help knowing we were through. You can plan out your training sessions with that game in mind. It is difficult to get challenge matches at this time of the year with most teams being finished up, but you can kick on with training and focus on that.

“It was a great match (the Connacht final) to get because they are going on to intermediate level and we are at junior level, so it is great to get that exposure. You get a free shot at them,” Haughey stated.

The St. Dominic’s defence held Killimor to just three points from play last time out. But the Knockcroghery-based side saw all of their 0-5 tally come from frees. They will naturally look to try and maintain their strong defensive structure, but cause more problems at the opposite end of the pitch.

“We asked at the start of the year for the attitude, the effort and the intensity and the players have delivered it in spades. The defence has been very, very strong for us all year. We haven’t conceded huge scores any day and the work for that starts with number 15 up in the corner-forward position.

“We didn’t score from play (in the Connacht final) which was the only downside, so that is something we are going to try and correct,” he stated.

Mia White and Áine O’Meara have recently returned to non-contact training as they face a race against time to feature this weekend. Haughey knows that a St. Peter’s Dunboyne side, with county player Ellen Burke and the evergreen Sinead Hackett in their ranks, will be a difficult proposition, but he is determined to help his team show their quality.

“They have a couple of big names and girls with intercounty experience. It was only a couple of years ago that Meath were playing at senior level, so the standard will be up there.

“We are going up there to produce a performance to show, first and foremost, that girls from St. Dominic’s can go up and play camogie, and that any team from Roscommon is well able to play camogie and is a force to be reckoned with,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Pádraig Pearses will face St. Kevin’s from Louth in their All-Ireland Junior B semi-final in Raharney, County Westmeath, on Saturday at 1 p.m..