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THE Armagh story of having been to Croke Park so many times and coming home disappointed certainly echoed with Antrim coach Eleanor Mallon. The former Antrim dual star had been to the Jones’s Road stadium on four occasions and left empty-handed each time. Watching from the bench as Antrim took Laois apart in the Intermediate decider gave Mallon as much satisfaction as she would have had as a player. Her inter-county journey started out as a camogie goal-keeper 16 years ago. “We played Waterford in the Premier Junior final in Croke Park and it went to a replay in Ashbourne. I had been the goalie that year but had ruptured my ACL and couldn’t play in either game. It didn’t feel like a win for me although I still have the medal. “That was a really good team, excellent players including Jane Adams who had won an All-star a year or two before. “There were a lot of young players coming through who had won with their school and Antrim underage teams and I thought the county was just going to take off at that point. “The following year we were back in Croke Park for the Intermediate final but lost by a couple of points to Wexford. I tore my meniscus that year and couldn’t play. “But I could see the progress in a year and was certain that Antrim would be back the next year and then we would go to the next level. “But it just seemed to fall apart for us at senior level after that. There is a list of reasons the length of my arm why we didn’t move on. The players were definitely there and we should have kicked on. “But there were retirements, injuries and maybe we lost the leaders in the team all at the same time. “We had a good few from Belfast and within a couple of years they had more or less gone and we were relying on players from the country clubs, the north Antrim clubs. “There has never been an abundance of talent in the county. But we did have some excellent players. We just needed a good structure to bring those players – and others with them – through to county senior teams and that didn’t happen until around Covid time. “It was frustrating for the likes of me and others my age group. I thought I would never see Croke Park again.” However, Mallon, always a dual club player, became a dual at intercounty level and the Antrim footballers reached the 2016 LGFA junior final where they lost to Longford. Mallon starred in the half-back line. “The dual thing lasted three or four years and then I drifted more towards football. The county camogie situation was frustrating me to be honest.” Last autumn her club Moneyglass went all the way to Croke Park with the defender now operating in the full-forward line. Again they lost. But already Mallon had linked up with Antrim camogie again. “Early last year I got a call from Carl McCormick wanting to know if he could chat to me. He came to my house a couple of evenings later and I was on board as the FLO (Female Liaison Officer) and goal-keeping coach. “Carl and Martin (Coulter) had come in when Antrim were left high and dry without a manager a couple of days before the start of the league in 2024. I have to give them a lot of credit for laying the foundations for Elaine Dowds and her management team to come in and step it up a level this year. “Last year we won Division 1B and the Ulster championship. That left us in a great place for this year. It was so disappointing to lose the Intermediate semi-final to Offaly last year. “When Elaine came in, she asked me to stay on with her new management team and I was delighted to. Chloe Drain was also there coaching. She had played with me in those early years and was still on the team when they won in 2021.” Dowds and her team set goals at the start of the year that were surpassed in the league. “We didn’t factor in beating Cork in Cork or running all the teams so close. We went into the league looking for a performance from each game. We got those and that left us disappointed when we were relegated. “The main thing though was retaining Ulster and winning in Croke Park on Sunday. “Personally it feels so great to win something there but for the team it has to be a stepping stone to something more. “I deal mainly with the two goalies – Becky (Ellis) and Caitriona (Graham). We are so lucky to have Caitriona. What a goalie! She conceded just one goal since the end of the league – at the end of the group game in Ahoghill against Kerry. “The defence also has to take credit for that. But if Caitriona had grown up in one of the top counties, she would already be an All-star. She’s an incredible leader, great attitude and she drives everyone on. “I regret never getting to win an All-Ireland in Croke Park as a player. But Sunday was definitely the next best thing.”