Offaly aiming to overcome Cork to claim place in All-Ireland Final

OFFALY will be seeking a place at Croke Park on All-Ireland Camogie Final day when they take on Cork in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate semi-final at Semple Stadium, Thurles on Saturday next at 6pm.

After their impressive victory over Meath at the same venue in the quarter finals, Offaly will travel with confidence to take on Cork's second string side, with their seniors taking on Dublin earlier in the day at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, in their All-Ireland semi-final.

These two sides operated out of the same group earlier in the championship and when they met in the group game in Cork early in June, the home side emerged with the narrowest of victories, 0-15 to 1-11. Offaly have grown into the championship since then and they will know going into this game that they have a great opportunity of securing a place in Croke Park on finals day and the opportunity to make an immediate return to the senior ranks again.

Cork went through the group games unbeaten. Alongside that victory over Offaly, they had a narrow two point win over Westmeath in Mullingar in their opening game, 2-15 to 2-13. They then had a big away win over Clare, 6-13 to 1-5 before overcoming Wexford by 1-14 to 1-5. Their final game saw them host Galway with both teams already through to the knock out stages and Cork had a comfortable 3-17 to 0-9 victory.

Offaly began their campaign with a good win over Clare, 1-18 to 1-8, before suffering that narrow defeat to Cork in round 2. They bounced back from that with an impressive home win over Wexford, 3-14 to 0-4, before they hosted Galway in Banagher and put in a huge effort but were a little unlucky to come away defeated by two points, 3-12 to 1-16. That left them in a final day shoot out against Westmeath in Mullingar with only the winner going through to the knockout stages with the loser exiting the championship. In difficult conditions, Offaly showed their true merit as they dug deep to earn a 2-10 to 1-8 victory.

By finishing top of the group Cork earned a place directly in the semi-finals while group runners up Offaly faced a quarter final. Their opponents were last year's All-Ireland runners up Meath, so Offaly knew they faced a stiff test. However on the day they produced an excellent performance as they dismantled Meath with an impressive 18 point victory, 5-18 to 3-6.

That sets the scene for next Saturday's encounter and it promises to be another close encounter. The two recent victories have given Offaly a big boost and the level of their performances has helped build team spirit and instill confidence into the team.

Their defence is backboned by Cathy Fogarty and joint captain Ellen Regan with Alana Roddy and Orla Gorman also making a significant contribution.

Clodagh Leahy has been in excellent form in the middle of the field and as well as contributing handsomely from frees, she has also chipped in with some fine points from play, such as the two against Meath when she raced through the defence before slotting over. That pace is very important and will trouble a lot of defences.

In attack the other joint captain Grace Teehan has been leading by example and as well as picking off important scores, she is contributing immensely in all round play and she will be a handful for the Cork defence. Becky Bryant and Mairead Jennings also add valuable experience in attack and just like around the rest of the field, they have very hard workers who all get stuck and make an important contribution to the cause. They have also got good impact from the bench in recent games and that could prove vital if the game is tight going down the home stretch.

Cork will always be competitive at any level but having faced them already away from home, Offaly know what they are up against and can be prepared for that. They will have taken great encouragement from the way they performed in their recent games and if they can bring that kind of form into Saturday's semi-final they will be a match for Cork and they certainly have the capabilities of recording victory and earning their place in the final against Kilkenny or Kerry who meet in the other semi-final.

It is a big day for Offaly camogie and one that can get them a step closer to returning to senior ranks once again.