Lismore Camogie Club are days away from what is highlight of their 40 years celebration.

How fitting it is that Lismore should reach an All-Ireland Club Final in 2014. The current club in Lismore was formed in 1974 and celebrates the 40^th anniversary of its foundation this year.

Initially the club fielded three teams after its formation at under 16 minor and junior levels.

However since then, the club has grown from strength to strength and as more and more young girls and women not just in Lismore but from the adjoining areas that do not have the numbers to field teams themselves, so too has the number of teams that Lismore now field, as they have teams from under ten to minor as well as in Junior and senior levels.

Down the years, the Lismore have enjoyed numerous successes at all grades. While it is at senior grade that most people will talk about, if the work is not put in further down the ladder, then there cannot be success at senior level.

At present, the current senior team are enjoying much success. They have won the county championship in three of the four last seasons and have added the Munster Intermediate Crown on each of these years.

Added to this, the side from the Heritage Town has added the Senior League title to their roll of honour in the past two seasons. Coincidently, the prize on offer to the League winners each year is the Denny Buckley Cup. Denny was very actively involved with all things Lismore in the past and is the father of current player Laura who was the Lismore Captain last year when the cup was first played for.

Some great work is done each year within the Lismore Club for a long number of years, and this is clear to see with the amount of players that the club provides to the county each year.

Many of the current senior panel have played for the county at different levels in the past and right up to the present and have won varying honours with the county, including the 2011 All-Ireland Junior Premier Final, having lost the two previous finals.

For a long number of years, Lismore were Waterford’s representatives at Féile na nGael. Eleven years running, Lismore made the journey around the country for the annual festival of underage Hurling, Camogie and Handball taking home a trophy twice, the Division four title in 1989 which was held in Offaly and the division three title in 2006 in Cork, a finish that was Waterford’s best until Galltir won the Division two final in 2013.

Lismore first played senior in 1980 but did not win its first senior title until 1985. Over the following years they won the title many times but around the turn of the millennium their luck began to change and they went nine years without winning the title until doing so in 2010 when a number of young players who were part of successful underage teams began to make their impact in the team.

In 2010 after winning the County Final they went on to beat Newmarket-on-Fergus in the Munster final but lost to Derry side Eoghan Rua in the All-Ireland semi final. The following year after winning the county final they went on to beat Clonulty from Tipperary in the Munster Final but were beaten again in the All-Ireland semi final, this time against Ardrahan from Galway in Fraher Field.

Injuries hampered the team towards the end of the 2012 championship. Saint Anne’s beat them in the County Final played in Ardmore, but in 2013 they bounced back with a string of fine results that have brought them all the way to GAA head quarters and a meeting with Ballyhale Shamrocks from Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final.

There is no doubting the ability that is within the current Lismore panel. There is a terrific blend with youth an experience. There is a winning mentality and a great bonding within the panel and a great determination. This was clear to see when the panel gathered at the Lismore Club Grounds on St. Stephen’s Morning for a training session, a morning where the players traditionally could be elsewhere or have other things on their minds.

Camogie in Waterford in the past number of years has seen a great revival. Clubs have got stronger while in some areas clubs have reformed or new clubs were formed.

We all know the only saying ‘third time lucky’. Lismore at the third attempt managed to come through an All-Ireland semi final and now that they are set to play at Croke Park, they will be looking to add to what is an already impressive roll of honour.

A win for Lismore would help further increase the level of interest in Camogie not just in the Lismore area but right throughout the county and it is a possibility that further clubs could be formed in the near future across the city and county should Lismore and Waterford experience success against Ballyhale Shamrocks.