'It's dreamland for the girls'- St Brigid's manager Brian Bowe ahead of All-Ireland Camogie semi-final

For the first time in the club’s history, St Brigid’s will compete in an All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie semi-final. They’re set to make the trip to Bansha in Tipperary on Sunday for a clash with reigning All-Ireland champions Clanmaurice of Kerry.

Manager Brian Bowe spoke to the Leinster Express/ Laois Live to preview the clash.

“Things are going great. We trained last Friday and Sunday, they were probably two  of the best sessions of the year I'd say. They're mad to go, absolutely raring to go,” he said.

Bowe had great faith that his side would get to this stage as he attended the Munster Intermediate final before his side had even won the Leinster Championship. He’s well aware of the task on their hands against the reigning All-Ireland champions.

“I saw them myself and I've watched two videos of them. They're very, very good. There's no point saying they're not. They’re after winning the last two Munsters and winning the All-Ireland, so I won't be taking them lightly anyway. They're going to take beating, but we're good enough to beat them if the girls perform on the day,” Bowe said.

St Brigid’s have been on quite the journey this year and came through a tough Laois and Leinster Championship to get to the position that they are in.

“At the start of the year, you always hope to get somewhere like this but now we're here, we're going to give it one hell of a lash. Like I said to you after the Laois final, it's unbelievably tough to win Laois. We probably got the harder side of the draw in Leinster, and to come through that now to where we are, it's dreamland for the girls, but hopefully they can carry it on,” he added.

The Leinster final victory over Naas was by the slenderest of margins with only a point separating the teams at the final whistle. The St Brigid’s manager knows that his side can’t pass up as many scoring opportunities on Sunday as they did against Naas two weeks ago.

“We don't panic too much. We had a lot of bad wides, the ones that the girls normally wouldn't hit. We’re going to have to convert them chances this week, we can't be driving that many wides. The girls in fairness to them didn't panic and they just stuck to the plan. We freshened things up near the end and that saw us out,” Bowe said.

Bowe is no stranger to winning championships as a player with Rathdowney-Errill but as he says, ‘this is beyond anything I’ve ever done’.

“When I was hurling with Rathdowney-Errill, out of six county finals we won, I was only there for two of them but the furthest we ever got was a Leinster semi-final. This is beyond anything I’ve ever done,” he commented.

As St Brigid’s prepare for their All-Ireland semi-final this Sunday, manager Brian Bowe couldn’t be more impressed with his team’s attitude and energy. Reflecting on their recent training sessions, he highlighted the incredible buzz and determination driving the players as they approach one of the biggest games in the club’s history

“Looking at training on Friday and Sunday, you’d think it was the weekend before the first round of the championship in Laois. The girls are just absolutely amazing, you have to be there to see them. They’re absolutely bouncing and just the atmosphere at training, it's absolutely savage, there's just some buzz around the place,” he said.

The St Brigid’s girls got quite the homecoming after winning the Leinster Championship with a piper playing as the girls walked behind him with their two cups and the streets lined with people in Rathdowney.

“I never expected anything like what we got. We came back after the Leinster final, they had a piper organised. I don't know if Kilkenny or Kerry after winning an All-Ireland would have got the same homecoming as we got. Both sides of the street were lined and it’s something that the girls will never forget, no matter what happens, going forward in sport or in life, they're never going to forget that 20 minutes, so it's great to see,” Bowe added.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s game, Bowe knows that his side have to have a near perfect performance if they are to get over the line against their Kerry opponents.

“We know their real danger girls and we have a few match-ups on the day that we have to get right. We think if we can get those match-ups right, we'll have a right chance. They have a couple of very dangerous girls and we have to get a handle on those girls early. If we can get a handle on those and our own girls turn up and hurl the way we know they can hurl, I think it could be our day,” he noted.

Bowe admitted that his side are ‘flying fit’ with only one injury concern in the form of Jessie Quinlan. The midfielder came off the bench against Naas in the Leinster final so she’s likely to start from there on Sunday.

“Jessie Quinlan is still not 100% but other than that all the girls are flying fit, thank God,” Bowe ended.

St Brigid's v Clanmaurice will throw-in at 2pm in Galtee Rovers GAA, Bansha on Sunday, December 1. The Leinster Express/ Laois Live will be providing a live blog from the game.