Huge weekend for camogie teams
The footballers’ defeat last Sunday brought the curtain down on the male side of inter-county activities so now the camogie and ladies football teams will have centre stage and hopefully they can go the distance.
Glen Dimplex Senior Camogie Championship QF
Cork v Kilkenny on Sunday in Croke Park at 1.30pm
“On the way home from Ennis on Saturday and keeping an eye on the other games, we had a feeling we would end up getting Kilkenny, and that’s how it panned out,” said manager Matthew Twomey as he reflected on the draw which is a repeat of last year’s final.
Matthew though said they were looking forward to it: “Well when you have no control over matters you just have to get on with it, but the girls are really focussed. If you got a lesser team, you might take it for granted and be a bit complacent but certainly not now.”
Cork’s record in HQ, apart from beating Waterford last year, has been poor with defeats to the likes of Kilkenny and Galway in recent big games, but again Matthew says it’s not an issue.
“When you are playing there, it means it’s the business end of the season and that is exactly where we want to be.”
One other pleasing aspect is there are no distractions as regards fixtures and dual players. “Thank God and we can all - players and management alike - concentrate of getting the team right, and both Hannah (Looney) and Orlaith (Cahalane) will train this week and come into consideration for Sunday.”
Matthew also confirmed that injured players Ashling Thompson and Laura Hayes could feature on Sunday. “They might have played a part last week in Ennis, but we were advised against it, but they are training well and in good shape.”
Ironically one of Cork’s better displays this year was actually against Kilkenny in Nowlan Park in the league when they won well.
“To be fair they were not long back in training, it was early in the season, but we did play very well.”
Kilkenny though are not the champions for nothing and will really not want to exit the championship at this stage and with their hurlers playing afterwards, they are sure to have big support.
The champions did go through the group phase unbeaten but they failed to win their home games, draws to Tipperary and somewhat surprisingly against Wexford who are now in a relegation play-off, their only win came against Dublin.
They are also down a couple of key players notably Miriam Walsh and she is a big loss.
That said they still have quality in Denise Gaule, Katie Nolan, Aoife Prendergast, Michelle Teehan, Claire Phelan, Katie Power and Aoife Norris.
Cork easily dispatched Clare last week and what was clear when the ball was played in quick and fast to Katrina Mackey and Amy O’Connor, they benefitted and scores accrued. A similar approach hopefully will be seen on Sunday.
Fiona Keating and Chloe Sigerson also worked hard while Saoirse McCarthy was very effective.
Defensively even allowing for the paucity of the Clare attack, Cork were comfortable, the two Meabhs Cahalane and Murphy, Laura Tracey and Pamela Mackey were their usual dependable selves, while Libby Coppinger was excellent, fronting Amy Lee who made two very good saves.
It’s fair to say that Cork have not been at their best all year, but could they be hitting form at the right time and when it matters most, and no better way to continue that then by winning on Sunday, and they get the nod to end the champion’s reign.
Glen Dimplex Intermediate Championship QF
Cork v Meath in Semple Stadium Thurles on Saturday at 1pm
A rare enough meeting at this stage of the championship between these two sides but they did meet in the group phase last year when Cork won a tight contest by 4 points.
It’s been a good season so far for Cork, and apart from losing their opening round game to Kilkenny, they have enjoyed success.
They won the league, beating Kilkenny after a replay in the final and followed that by winning the Munster Intermediate Championship with a comfortable win over Kerry, and a highly rated Kerry side it must be said in the final.
Meath for their part made it to the Division 2A league final but lost to Kerry by a point in a cracking game in Croke Park.
Manager Brendan Skehan has moulded a nice side together introducing a number of new players to the squad.
In their championship campaign they finished 2nd in the group; they had big wins over Laois and Kerry but were well beaten 4-11 to 2-7 by midland rivals Westmeath.
Aoife Minogue, Grace Coleman, Amy Gaffney, Claire Coffey, Leah Devine and Rachel O’Neill are some of their key players.
Cork recovered from their opening day loss to Kilkenny to comfortably see off Dublin and Galway and impressed in doing so.
There is a nice balance to the team; Stephanie Beausang is an excellent goalkeeper, while in defence Niamh O’Leary, Leanne O’Sullivan, Laura Doyle and Meabh Ring have excelled.
Rachel Harty has as captain led by example, while the attack with Lauren Homan, Cliona O’Leary, Rose Murphy and Lucy Allen have been hard to contain in most of their games to date.
Cork will go into this game as favourites and look well equipped to win and make it to the semi-final, and hopefully come Sunday, the seniors will join them.
Hurling league finals
Following the completion of the football leagues last weekend, it’s the hurling deciders this coming weekend with all 7 down for decision.
The participating clubs will like be looking for a championship boost, with that due to start in the coming weeks.
Friday night will see the Division 1 final at Páirc Uí Rinn at 7.30pm with Blackrock and Sars two clubs will eye on bigger prize down the line.
Sars had their place in the final secured with 2 games to spare while the ‘Rockies sealed their place with a late run, and they welcomed back Alan Connolly for a couple of those games and that is good to see; it should produce an interesting hour even both might be minus a few key players.
The Division 2 final is also in Páirc Uí Rinn on Sunday morning at 12 between Glen Rovers and Ballincollig. It’s a fair achievement for the latter to make this final but the Glen with their Cork trio back in harness will be expected to win.
Ballincollig is the venue on Friday night at 7.30pm for the Division 3 decider featuring Carrigaline v Eire Og. Ballinhassig and Valley Rovers will contest the D4 final in Riverstick on Sunday at 12, while at the same time in Caherlag, it’s Cloughduv and Russell Rovers in D5.
The D6 decider is a Carrigdhoun derby with Tracton v Ballygarvan in Carrigaline, while Glen Rovers and Erin’s Own contest the D7 Final in Riverstown - both of these are on Saturday at 3pm.
One game tonight, it’s the football final of the divisional and colleges for unseeded sides section of the County Championship. It’s Duhallow v Muskerry in Dromtarriffe at 7.30pm.
The winners will join UCC and Carbery in the draw with the winners of that phase going into the championship proper.
Avondhu were too strong for Muskerry in the hurling section on Tuesday and will go into the hat along with the seeded sides Imokilly and UCC.
These games will be played in late August on the weekend when the clubs section are given the week off ahead of the final round of games in the round-robin phase.
Football season ends
It was not the end they wanted but Cork can have few complaints at the outcome of last Sunday’s loss to Derry, in what was a poor game.
There is no doubt that 3 games in 14 days, and 5 in 6 weeks took its toll as the pace and drive that was evident in recent games was lacking.
The wins over Mayo and Roscommon were achieved with a high work rate and both games went to the wire.
John Cleary while disappointed said they gave it their best shot and now “it’s important we try and get back to Division 1 that will only help in the development of the team going forward as you need to be playing the top teams all the time”.
The players showed great resolve to recover from the loss to Clare to make the last eight, and while they reached the same stage last year, beating 2 Division 1 teams in recent weeks was far more credible, and almost beating Kerry gave them the belief that they are heading in the right direction.
Injuries to a number of players did not help with Cathal O’Mahoney, Sean Meehan and last week Luke Fahy all unavailable.
There is little doubt that a few more players, especially in attack, are required in an effort to increase the depth of the squad and I am sure the management team will be keeping a keen eye on the upcoming county championships with that in mind.
For now though we say well done to all involved for their commendable efforts over the last few months, and how good it was to see the support they received at the last number of games.