Brianna and Ciara to Play Big Part in Destination of County Senior Camogie Title

Fresh from their semi final wins over Saint Anne’s and Lismore respectfully at the same venue on Saturday last, Gailltir and De La Salle return to the W.I.T. Arena this coming Sunday afternoon in the final of this year’s Hooper Dolan Insurances County Senior Camogie Final

This showpiece fixture on the Camogie scene locally is surly going to attract a large attendance to the Carriganore venue for what could well be a game that will go right to the wire.

This final will see Gailltir appear in the decider for the third year in a row and will be looking to win it for the second time in three season’s having gone from 2008 to 2016 without winning it previously in a time when Lismore and Saint Anne’s the two sides defeated in last weekend’s semi finals were the dominant teams within the county at this level.

While Gailltir will be no strangers to appearing in the County Final, the same cannot be said of their opponents this weekend De La Salle.

The Gracedieu based club were formed in fairly recent times and have only competed in the adult grade of competition with the past four or five years, but in that time they have won both league and championships at both Junior and Intermediate grades and in successive seasons and they contested the Senior League Final earlier this year at Ferrybank where their opponents that night back in the middle of May were Gailltir.

In their respective semi finals played last Saturday Gailltir recorded a narrow 1-10 to 0-11 win over Saint Anne’s while De La Salle had a much more clear cut 4-17 to 2-8 win over Lismore, but it must be pointed out that the 2017 champions were short a number of players that helped them to that title.

Neither of these two sides will need any introducing to each other. Many of the players will know the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition players from playing with each other in different inter county teams in the last few years, and from having played against each other in the different championships locally while a number of the younger members of the two sides have played together on the colleges scene, with a number of players from both sides helping Saint Angela’s Ursuline School to two Munster and All-Ireland Championships this year.

As pointed out this is the second time that the two sides have clashed in the final of competitions this year, having already clashed in the League Final in a game which Gailltir won 2-14 to 0-13 and they the outcome was the same when the two sides met earlier in the championship in a foggy evening at the Gaultier Grounds near Dunmore East.

Those that have any interest in Camogie will know all about Beth Carton and what she brings to any side she plays with. The De La Salle and Waterford star is nominated for an All-Star this year for her performance with Donal O’Rourke’s side, something she would richly reserve if she was to be picked on team of the best 15 players.

Gailltir will not need any telling here that they will have to keep a close eye on her, but she is not the only player that can cause Gailltir problems.

Abby Flynn is another player that could have a big future in the game going forward and if given the chance just like Beth Carton she will punish sides.

But there is others in different sectors of the field that could well have a big say in this game in the likes of Lucy Hogan, Taylor Healy, Niamh Murphy, Courtney Healy and Chloe Dempsey.

Gailltir welcomed back Áine Lyng into their team a few years back and her experience is going to be vital to the side, especially when they are without Trish Jackman all year. Áine Lyng is one of four Waterford players to get nominated for an All-Star this year and so shows the importance to any side which she features in. So too will the experience of Emma Hannon be vital to the side from the Barony.

But just like De La Salle they are not looking to just one or two players to see them over the line in the big games and in players of the ability of Annie and Aoife Fitzgerald, Clodagh Carroll, Leah Sheridan, Margo Heffernan and Kate Lynch to name but a few they have their potential match winners in different sectors of the field just like De La Salle.

Followers of the game will have noticed that I left two names out so far, something I have done on purpose up till now.

I have said elsewhere recently that I have a huge admiration for goalkeepers in either Hurling or Camogie. Someone once told me that you have to be either mad or brave to play between the posts. If this is true or not I don’t know but I know goalkeepers often do not get the recognition they deserve at times, as a good goalkeeper can win many games for their sides, but unfortunately for them, it is the attacking players and often the player which scores most that gets all the praise when a team wins.

 Both Gailltir and De La Salle have two goalkeepers that I really admire in Ciara Jackman and Brianna O’Regan.

The two are part of Donal O’Rourke’s Waterford Senior Panel this year and for much of the year the Waterford management team were not able to make a call on one over the other as to who would be their number one, so good are both keepers with little if anything between them, which resulted it in them rotating the number one shirt for much of the year.

Both of these players are going to have a big say in this game and the one that performs best on Sunday next could well be the one that has another senior medal in their collection in the case of Ciara or a first in the case of Brianna.

Gailltir will go into this game as the more experienced side as many of their players will be involved in the final for the third year in a row, winning it in 2016 and then going on to win the Munster Intermediate Championship and that experience you have to think will count for something.

De La Salle will have plenty of hunger going into this game and hunger can often outweigh experience.

Something that often happens in the women’s games is that when two sides meet for the second time in the same competition the result is often reversed. Gailltir have the upper hand of the two in recent games between the two and we also know that unbeaten runs also have to come to an end at some stage.

Who will win this game? I really wish I knew and maybe I might try and get a bookie to give me some odds. I think this could be a game that will be one that is too close to call one over the other. Maybe even the game might need more than 60 minutes to find a winner. For now I am going to sit on the fence.

The County Camogie Board deserve praise for having a curtain raiser before their showpiece game of the year locally. They have pencilled in the junior final between local rivals Butlerstown and Tramore as the curtain raiser with the game having a 2-30pm start at the W.I.T. Arena.

Local derbies can often go one way or the other and I have no doubt this one will be the same. Butlerstown on paper seem to have the more experienced team and they get the nod here to win.

Meanwhile there is another big game locally in the county on Sunday when Dungarvan, fresh from their recent County Intermediate Final win over Ferrybank are in the Munster Junior Club Championship action on Sunday afternoon at 2pm, but who they play is not known yet at their own club grounds as the Limerick Intermediate County Final between Ballyagran and Crecora will only take place on Saturday afternoon.

Dungarvan have an excellent side and they will be expected to advance to the next phase of the competition.