Bergin believes collective purpose will be key for Galway camogie

The Galway senior Camogie team will take on Kilkenny this Saturday at 3.45pm in Semple Stadium in Thurles in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Galway's semi-final is preceded by Cork and Wexford (2pm ) and both games are live on RTÉ.

Galway team manager Ollie Bergin, who is a Kilkenny man, will be hoping his charges can get one over on his native county and return for another final.

Galway were in the All-Ireland final last season under the guidance of former manager Tony Ward, but they were well beaten by a strong Cork outfit.

Although they suffered a narrow defeat at the hands of Kilkenny in this year's league final, Bergin is pleased with the progress the panel has made and hopeful they can produce a big performance on Saturday.

"The girls have been training very well over the last few weeks and months and they are a very talented bunch. We are all really looking forward to the challenge of facing Kilkenny again. We beat them recently in a championship group game, but both teams had a safety net in that game, and there is none this weekend. We believe if we perform to the best of our ability, we will advance to the final.

"Kilkenny have some very good players in Ann Dalton, Denise Gaule and Katie Power, but we have some really top players too and we believe our team ethic, good link play, and collective purpose will be good enough to get us through."

For that to happen, the team management will be looking to big displays from team captain and midfielder Niamh Kilkenny, free-taker Niamh McGrath, and Ailish O' Reilly and Noreen Coen who have been a regular goalscorers over the past few games.

In defence former wing-forward Rebecca Hennelly has settled in well at centre-back this season, and alongside former team captain Lorraine Ryan, they form a formidable first line of defence.

The team is due to be announced tonight (Thursday ), but they will be without Ballinderreen's Siobhán Coen who is injured, while Molly Dunne is doubtful also.

Bergin is hoping for some strong Galway support in Thurles to support the team.

"While it is great that the games are live on TV and it is good for exposure of camogie on a national level, we are hopeful we will have our usual loyal band of supporters and a good few extra Galway people in Semple Stadium to cheer the team on. We have prepared well and it is a matter of going out and performing now. We believe we will."

 

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