Chloe McCaffrey turns her attention to Down after Tyrone’s stunning win over Clare – The Irish News

TYRONE’S Chloe McCaffrey was delighted to be enjoying a bit of game time after a difficult few months as she played alongside her Red Hand team-mates in their victorious All-Ireland quarter-final against Clare this weekend.

Ulster, despite being six points down at half-time after losing 2-4 to 0-4 to last year’s All-Ireland finalists, won narrowly, 2-8 to 2-7, at Cusack Park, Ennis, on Saturday to prepare for an Ulster-only semi-final against provincial champions Down on July 14.

McCaffrey scored 2-1 inside two minutes and got her team back in the game just three minutes into the second half.

She played more than 60 minutes in her first start, only her second since being injured in a second-tier game against Donegal in March.

The break saw her miss the rest of the league campaign, including the final defeat to Kildare, and the Ulster Championship, which ended in defeat to Monaghan in the first round.

“It’s great to play the full 60 minutes. It’s been a long, hard 15 weeks to get back into the swing of things, but I’m really enjoying it,” she said.

“I hope the games continue and there will be no more injuries until the end of the season.”

Tyrone led 0-3 to 0-2 after the first quarter and were still a point ahead, 0-4 to 0-3, after 22 minutes, but two Clare goals from Laurie Ryan and Ailish Considine in the 23rd and 24th minutes, and a point from Fidelma Marrinan in injury time, meant Banner took the initiative at the break.

Two goals from McCaffrey brought them to within one with six minutes left in the second half but Clare grabbed two points to extend their advantage to three before Aoife Horisk scored a crucial second goal for the visitors to level the score at 2-6 to 2-6.

Horisk then gave them the lead with six minutes remaining before Maria Canavan doubled the advantage for Sean O’Kane’s side. Although Chloe Moloney’s point left them with just the minimum as the game entered injury time, they failed to find the winning goal or a point to send the game into extra time as Tyrone held on.

It is the first time Tyrone have reached the semi-finals of the competition since returning from the senior competition in 2022, having lost in the quarter-finals in the past two years.

There could be no better time for Tyrone to recapture the form that saw them reach the league final and earn promotion to the top flight ahead of next season.

McCaffrey admits their Championship performances were not good enough and hopes the win over Clare will give them the boost they need to improve further.

“We are delighted to have reached the semi-finals. In recent years we have made it through the quarter-finals, so we are delighted to have made it through this stage and reached the top four,” she said.

“The Ulster Championship was disappointing because we never quite reached the level we had in the league.

“The defeat to Leitrim was hard to take but thankfully the girls worked hard in the game against Wicklow and got a big win and a good performance.

“Clare was a huge challenge for us, especially away from home, but we believed we could go to Clare and win the game. Even when we were six points down at half-time, we believed we could turn it around in the second half, which we did.

“The team is currently in worse form and the semi-final will be a huge challenge for them, but no semi-final will be easy.

“We know a few girls from college and they have really amazing talent, but we’ll work hard and hope they make it someday.”

“Given the form they are in, it will certainly be difficult to beat them.”