'This is a year to redeem ourselves'- Camross manager David Cuddy ahead of Senior Hurling final
Camross manager David Cuddy will stand on the sideline for his second consecutive Senior Hurling final this Sunday with his side facing Abbeyleix St Lazarian’s. Camross were well-beaten in last year’s final by then champions Clough-Ballacolla but Cuddy wants his side to reverse the result and bring the Bob O’Keeffe Cup back to Camross.
“I suppose when we started off the plan in Camross every year was to be in a county final and be competing every year. We didn’t really perform in the final last year so this is a year to redeem ourselves again and hopefully go one step further.”
Camross have scored 11 goals so far in the championship and Cuddy knows that his players have the quality to score goals when they get the chance.
“With some of the lads we have, we’re fairly dangerous inside. In the semi-final against Clough-Ballacolla, we were nine points down at half-time. We didn’t really speak about it in the dressing room, we just needed to keep things ticking over and that if we get the opportunity, just go for it. At times, we try to keep the scoreboard ticking over and get ourselves back into the game. We have the lads who get the big scores so it’s a big help.”
Cuddy takes his Camross side into Sunday’s game having gotten the better of Abbeyleix three times already this year and he says that can be a worry at times.
“That’s always worrying that you’ve beaten them a couple of times. The first league game was very close, we only won by two points. We were lucky to get out that day, it was a horrible day as well. In the league semi-final, we just didn’t perform in the first-half so we had to stay focused in the dressing room and we brought it back. We were five points down playing with the wind that day and in extra-time, we pulled away again. They’d a couple of lads who went off injured that day too so there hasn’t been anything between us this year.”
Their semi-final victory went all the way to penalties and Cuddy feels that practising penalties can’t replicate the pressure they would have felt in the shoot-out.
“That’s the first penalty shoot-out I’ve been involved in as it was for many of the players. The first thing we said was who wants to take one? We had a few lads that put up their hands to take them, we wanted to get a mix of experience and a few of the younger lads. We practised them after training but you can’t legislate for that pressure. The guys you would have bet your house on to score from both sides missed.”
Camross’ Tom Cuddy was named man of the match in the semi-final from half-back where the 17-year old fired in two goals. His second one was a fabulous goal which the manager feels was one of the best he’s seen this year.
“Tom has huge potential, I think everyone has seen that for a long time. It’s a bit un-Camross like to bring lads in straight away. It’s been picked on form and also he’s a good player. He deserved to be man of the match, the first goal was one of those goals but the second goal was class. If that was Mossy or any of the other county players, it would have been called one of the best goals of the season. He’s just pure calm and a great player.”