What a day of Camogie to look forward to this Saturday! The four best teams in the land will be going to battle in Nowlan Park as the prestigious prize of the O’Duffy Cup awaits.
Defending champions Cork along with Galway, Kilkenny and league champions Wexford will showcase their talents in front of hopefully a sizeable attendance in Kilkenny’s GAA headquarters.
First up, Cork and Galway (2pm throw-in ) will go to battle in a repeat of the 2008 All-Ireland senior final, in which Cork won 2-10 to 1-8 and in the process they also regained the All-Ireland lost to Wexford in 2007.
The main focus of attention from a Kilkenny perspective is the clash against Wexford with a 4pm throw-in. It’s a repeat of the league final in which the Slaneysiders defeated Anne Downey’s troops following a thrilling conclusion, where substitute Ursula Jacob scored the winning point in the 7th minute of injury-time. The two teams also clashed in the final round of the group stages of the championship in an encounter where both teams had already qualified. Wexford came out on top by 2-10 to 0-10 in miserable wet conditions similar to the league final played in Thurles.
Both teams were just completing the formalities of the group stages and the real business takes place on Saturday where it’s do or die. On paper, you have the most consistent teams in the country this year.
Both teams were unbeaten en route to the league final, and Kilkenny stepped up a gear during the round robin group phase recording five consecutive victories.
Their most significant result was obviously the 0-13 to 2-6 victory away to Cork in boiling hot sunshine in Pairc Ui Rinn on June 19.
Conceding a double sucker punch of goals early in the second-half, Kilkenny appeared to be in danger, but Anne Downey’s troops are made of stern stuff and they always battle with lion-hearted determination. Never allowing the margin to exceed to more than three points, Kilkenny finished strongly with four consecutive points as an astonishing 11 minutes of injury-time were played.
Teenage sensation Kelly Hamilton duly obliged as she coolly struck over a superb winning point. That result proved that Kilkenny certainly belong to the upper echelons of Camogie and they established themselves as serious All-Ireland contenders.
Wexford’s form since winning the league has been somewhat inconsistent.
Narrow defeats to Galway and Cork resulted in a concession of late goals, and of greater concern is their over dependability of Ursula Jacob and Una Lacey for scores.
Their central spine is solid with Mags Darcy possibly the best goalkeeper around, while Catherine O’Loughlin and Mary Leacy command the central defensive positions.
Katriona Parrock, and opportunist forwards Lenny Holohan and Fiona Kavanagh will take plenty of watching and are always capable of been a major threat.
However, Kilkenny have displayed steady consistent improvement since last year’s All-Ireland defeat to Cork. Plus having to wait 16 years since their last O’Duffy Cup victory in 1999 — which was captained by Anne Downey in the victory over Wexford — there is an eager determination and hunger to end the long standing famine.
Defensively they’ve been performing solidly, although they’ve been without central defenders Catherine Doherty and Leanne Fennelly for the latter part of the group stages.
However, the two have returned to training within the last fortnight and their presence is a major boost ahead of this crunch clash. Anne Dalton is leading by example playing a captain’s role in midfield, while the forward line despite the inconsistent performances individually throughout the season have been racking up sizeable scoring tallies. All-Ireland under-age winners, Michelle Quilty, Katie Power and Denise Gaule are all top class players and they have proven themselves at senior level. While Marie Dargan, the experienced twice all-star Aoife Neary, and county minor captain Shelley Farrell — who’s impressed greatly in her first year at senior level — are all a proven handful.
As Anne Downey has said before, if Kilkenny can play to their full potential they’re an unstoppable force. Kilkenny play with home advantage this Saturday, and a hunger and ambition willing to match their undoubted quality, they can book their second consecutive All-Ireland final appearance on September 12.
