PREVIEW: Clonoulty hoping it's third time lucky in Saturday's county final against Drom
FBD Insurance Senior Camogie Championship Final
Saturday, October 22nd
Familiarity often breeds contempt but in this case it has been the perfect conditions to build a rivalry that is reaching its third chapter, as Drom & Inch and Clonoulty Rossmore meet in the senior camogie final for the third year in succession this Sunday.
This has become a game with a lot at stake, with reigning champions Drom & Inch going for their fourth title in a row, while Clonoulty Rossmore have come so close to getting their names in the record books as county champions, but they have come up short more often than not in the teams recent encounters.
The sides have met already in this year’s championship in what was a very close game in the group stages, but it was Drom who again edged through on a 3-12 to 1-16 scoreline, and their goal threat is something that Clonoulty are going to have to combat.
Even in last years decider, three first half goals from Drom was a concession that Clonoulty just couldn’t reel back in, so the west team are going to have to be aware of the goal threat their opponents have, especially looking at the semi final action.
Niamh Treacy lined out at full forward from the start of the semi final win over Éire Óg Annacarty, as she ran their full back line ragged, scoring two goals herself in the opening ten minutes of the game to essentially kill off any hope the challengers could build up.
They have been very good in their campaign to date, but you can see there is probably still more in the locker should they require it, and they seem to have built the team up to be even stronger in recent years, with Aine Greed and Caroline Shanahan in the starting team all year, and playing well, which allows the likes of Joanne Ryan and Michelle Woodlock to make impacts from the bench if required.
One feature of their win over Éire Óg which may cause some level of concern is the free count they conceded which gave Éire Óg a large number of scorable frees, and that is something they will need to keep an eye on, as with Cait Devane on the pitch, they will be punished more often than not.
Indeed, if Clonoulty are to become Tipperary senior champions for the first time in their history, it will probabl require the greatest player in their history to produce her best on the day.
Devane is the main source of scores for her team, which was highlighted in the semi final as she notched 0-11 of her side’s 1-13 total, and while it is a comfort to the west Tipp team to have a player of her quality in hand, they will need others to step up and compliment Devane, with Casey Hennessy and Eimear Bourke the only other scorers in the game two weekends ago.
A strong start without conceding any soft goals will be extremely important for Clonoulty on the day, and if they can manage to do that early on, it could give them the confidence to vreate a bit of history for their club, but in Drom & Inch they are facing a team in the middle of their peak years, and maybe even stronger than their previous wins and with the experience of beating their final opponents in previous iterations of this fixture, it might be a four in a row celebration for the mid Tipp outfit.
It should be close, but Drom should have that better spread of scorers in their forward line, something Clonoulty just don’t have at the moment.
Verdict: Drom & Inch