Gailltir and Nenagh Eire Óg do battle for Munster title

 

This Saturday is a big in the history of the Gailltir Camogie Club.

The Club was formed in 1958. It is 58 years old this year and would it not be ironic if in what is expected to be a tight game that a score in the 58 minute of this Saturday’s Munster Intermediate Camogie Final against Tipperary side Nenagh Eire Óg that they were to win their first ever Munster Club title.

The Cub has come a long way in its 58 year history.

The club was formed after Gaultier had won the Junior Football County Final and a group from the area decided that if the men of the area could do the area proud in football, so too could the ladies of the area but instead of using footballs, they wanted to do so using hurleys and sliotars.

Anne Dingley, Pat Power, Pat Doyle, Bernie Dingley, Mary Kennedy as well as Mary and Julia Cummins were some of the early starts of the club.

The area had a Camogie team a number of years prior to this and had stars in the likes of Anne Phelan, Biddy Barry, Nora Hartley, Elsie Rose, Mary Power and Ruth Clarke were those days.

The first game the present Gailltir club played was against Mooncoin from South Kilkenny. The first championship game the side played was against the now disbanded Ballinamult Club at Dungarvan, a game that would end in defeat for the Barony Ladies, and they recorded their first competitive win three months later against the same Ballinamult side.

The club won its first senior title in 1962 and retained the title twelve months later with a panel consisting of Anne Dingley, Anne Lee, Mary Kennedy, Julia Cummins, Anne Kearney, Eileen Richardson, Geraldine Flynn, Margaret Phelan, Josie Kennedy, Bridget Flynn, Maria Gough, Maura Flynn, Mary Cummins, Carmel Flynn and Anne Phelan.

Since then, the club has won many honours in every grade of the game, some of the highlights being the winning of a number of recent Féile Na Gael Titles at a national Level, and players that were involved in the first of these in 2013, the likes of Ciara Jackman, Ailis Doyle, Jane O’Connell, Shauna Fitzgerald, Kate Lynch, Emer Walshe and Katie Judge who were involved in that win will be involved again this weekend.

The North Tipperary Club was reformed in recent years and since it was reformed they have become a very strong unit, winning the Tipperary Junior B Championship in 2013 and the Junior A Championship last year following it up with the Intermediate championship this years and will play against the strongest sides in the premier County next year.

Earlier this year they lost out to Drom & Inch in the Intermediate Final at the Tipperary Camogie Grounds at The Ragg on a 5-11 to 3-11 score line but they gained revenge two weeks ago beating the same side at the same venue on a 2-14 to 2-6 score line.

On the day Full forward Grace O’Brien was their scorer in chief finishing with 1-12 of her sides impressive tally, six points of which came from frees. She is clearly a player that the Gailltir defence will have to keep a close eye on, but no team consists of just one player and the North Tipp side who like Gailltir wear sky blue shirts, also have good players in full back Aileen Duggan and a very formidable half forward line of Aisling O’Brien, Ciara McGrath and Eimear Ryan.

Nenagh Éire Óg having lost the league final to Drom& Inch and slipped to a heavy defeat against Silvermines in the opening round of the championship, but regrouped to beat Shannon Rovers and Kilruane MacDonagh’s before earning an impressive one-point win over the ‘Mines in a recent county semi-final. Éire Óg then faced into the county intermediate final against Drom & Inch.

Just as the North Tipperary side have been impressive to get to this Saturday’s Provincial decider, so too have Gailltir.

In the first round of the Waterford senior championship they beat Saint Anne’s 1-11 to 2-4. This was followed up with a 2-10 to 1-13 draw with Lismore and they rounded off the league section of the championship with a 2-12 to 0-8 win over Cappoquin.

The Barony Ladies played the Ladies from the Cornerstone Town again in the semi finals and beat then this time 1-16 to 1-6 and in the County Final they had a 2-9 to 1-6 win over Lismore.

Their most recent outing was against Cork Intermediate Champions Blackrock in the Munster Semi final where they recorded a 2-10 to 1-7 win to advance to this Saturday’s Munster Final.

Just as Nenagh Eire Óg have their starts for this weekends game, so to do Gailltir.

Trish Jackman is the player most familiar to supporters of Camogie across the country, but in the likes of her sister Ciara, Clara Hogan, Aileen Cummins, Sally O’Grady, Sinead Cunningham, Emma Roche, Shauna Fitzgerald, Áine Lyng, Annie Glavey, Roisin and Aisling Flood, Kate Lynch and Emer Walsh they too have big game players.

Twelve months ago, Cahir beat Lismore at this stage of the competition. They did so having won the Intermediate Championship in Tipperary last year and the Junior Championship the year before.

Nenagh Eire Óg last year won the Tipperary Junior Championship and the Intermediate Championship this year and will be hoping that history can repeat itself this time out at Cahir.

But this could well prove to be their toughest test to date this year. Gailltir are a side with a nice blend of youth and experience.

They come into this game confident. The beat a fancied Lismore side in the county final and they beat a fancied Blackrock side in the Munster Semi Final.

Just as Nenagh Eire Óg will know that this game will be a tough one to win, so too will Gailltir.

Some great work has taken place in recent years to promote the game in the area and those involved in that work are getting the fruits of their rewards of late.

Will Gailltir win here? They certainly have the players to do so and if they do it will give the game of Camogie in the Ballygunner, Passage, Gaultier and Dunmore East areas a boost, but also to the game across the county.

TEAM PANELS:

Nenagh Éire Óg panel: Sarah Quigley, Caroline Browne, Hazel Coffey, Maeve Coffey, Michelle Collins, Aileen Duggan, Zoey Grattan, Ruth Hassett, Fiona Hennessy, Louise Hickey, Kristen Howard, Sarah Kennedy, Rachel Maher, Hazel McAuliffe, Ciara McGrath, Niamh Sheridan, Alanna Morris, Aisling O’Brien, Grace O’Brien (captain), Kate O’Connor, Rachel O’Connor, Ciara Phelan, Eimear Ryan & Leahy Slattery.

Gailltir Panel: Ciara Jackman, Áine O’Keeffe, Clara Hogan, Sinead Cunningham, Aileen Cummins, Sally O’Grady, Claire Dunne, Emma Roche, Kate Lynch, Annie Glavey, Aisling, Flood, Aine Lyng, Shauna Fitzgerald, Trish Jackman, Roisin Flood, Shannon Delahunty, Emer Walshe, Eilis Cullinane, Fiona Conroy, Emily Mahony, Sarah Smith, Hannah Hutchinson, Sara Judge, Emma Frampton, Emma Tallon, Zoe Power, Jane O’Connell, Katie Judge, Claire O’Donovan, Chloe Murphy, Ailis Doyle.