Barony Ladies 60 Minutes From Croke Park Appearance

History will be created at Leahy Park in Cashel on Sunday afternoon next when Gailltir or Offaly side Saint Rynagh’s will win for themselves a first ever All-Ireland Final appearance at Croke Park next month.

For Gailltir this will be familiar territory as two years ago they lost out to Eglish from Tyrone at Ashbourne, while the venue will also be familiar to the ladies from the Barony as it was in Cashel back in early November that they beat Cork side Eire Óg in the Munster Final.

The setting is completely new to the Offaly side however. While they won back to back titles within their own county  last Autumn, they won their first provincial title some weeks later beating Young Irelands from Kilkenny, a result which suggests that the Offaly side could well prove to be a difficult side to beat for Gailltir as Camogie at all levels in Kilkenny is very strong.

For nearly a decade Lismore and Saint Anne’s have dominated the senior game in the Deise County and in 2016 Gailltir broke their dominance when beating Lismore in a first county final win going back to 2008.

To see Gailltir break the dominance of the sides that controlled things for a number of years was no great surprise and since then we have seen De La Salle also begin to come to the fore, meaning that right now we have a number of clubs competing at the top, something that is only good for the game as a whole.

A great deal of work has gone into the promotion of the game in the Gailltir area and it now that we are starting to see the fruits of this work take shape.

A large number of players from the club has helped Saint Ursuline School win three Munster Finals and two All-Ireland Finals in the last twelve months, and a number of players have also won a place in the different successful Waterford sides in the last few years.

Alan Hansen once famously said you win nothing with kids, something he was proven very wrong on. This Gailltir panel while it has its fair share of what could be called kids, it also has some very experienced players and none more so than Emma Hannon and Áine Lyng, both of whom will prove to be absolutely vital to their chances this Sunday.

The Gailltir management team and players will not need any telling that they are just sixty plus minutes from an All-Ireland Final appearance and a visit to Croke Park, something that will no doubt spur the side on.

Camogie in Waterford right now is very strong and having been here before Gailltir will go into the game as favourites to advance to next month’s All-Ireland Final, but they will not underestimate the challenge they face in this game.

Camogie may not be as strong in Offaly as it is in Waterford, but this is a good Saint Rynagh’s side.

They might have won just two county titles at this level in their history and one Leinster title, but they have within their ranks some players that Gailltir will have to keep an eye on.

Inter county player Siobhan Flannery playing on the edge of the Gailltir square will have to be closely watched throughout as she will not make too many mistakes with the chances that come her way.

Kate Kenny and Mairead Daly in the half forward line while at the other end of the field Ellen Gilligan, Linda O’Sullivan, Trish Nugent and Róisín Egan could well prove vital.

For Gailltir Ciara Jackman is absolutely vital between the posts. She shared inter county duties with Brianna O’Regan last year and did not put a foot wrong. The Fitzgerald’s Shauna, Annie and Aoife are also vital as are the lines of Kate Lynch, Ciara O’Sullivan, Clodagh Carroll and Leah Sheridan.

Two years ago when Gailltir appeared at this stage of the competition the experience of Eglish who had appeared in an All-Ireland Semi Final proved vital and so it could well be this year.

Gailltir playing in a semi final, narrowly missing out on a Croke Park date will surly spur the side managed by Orla Murphy, Gail O’Sullivan and Paul Lyng on, and should be celebrating an All-Ireland appearance mid afternoon on Sunday.