Sarsfields' senior camogie team attempt to emulate their hurlers in winning back-to-back AIB All-Ireland senior titles this Saturday (17th December) when they go up against Antrim's Loughgiel Shamrocks.
The daughters of the hurling teams of 1993 and 1994 were in this position just 12 months ago before falling to Oulart The Ballagh in the 2020 decider in Nowlan Park.
However, the New Inn/Bullaun/Woodlawn outfit gained revenge the following March beating the Wexford side 3-12 to 4-5 in Croke Park. And now they stand just 60 minutes away from winning two Bill & Agnes Carroll Cups in a single calendar year.
Leading up to the game, Galway Bay FM's Darren Kelly has been chatting to Sarsfields captain Niamh McGrath.
The Sarsfields manager is Michael McGrath and he spoke to Galway Bay FM's Tommy Devane during the week.
Throw-in at Croke Park on Saturday is 6.30pm and we'll have LIVE coverage here on Galway Bay FM.
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Loughgiel Shamrocks (Antrim) v Sarsfields (Galway), 6.30pm, Croke Park. Referee: Liz Dempsey (Kilkenny)
Sarsfields are in their sixth final in seven seasons and aiming to increase their conversion rate to 50 per cent by going back-to-back for the first time. The East Galway outfit secured their second AIB Camogie All-Ireland Club senior title last March, when they gained revenge on Oulart-The Ballagh, who had dethroned them in the previous season’s decider, played just three months earlier.
They are a team of many talents and while All-Star Orlaith McGrath is a considerable loss having suffered another cruciate knee ligament injury in the summer, they can still call on a catalogue of top-tier operators whose gear bags rattle, not just with All-Ireland club medals, but with senior inter-county ones too.
McGrath’s sisters Siobhán, Clodagh and inspirational skipper Niamh, Maria Cooney, Tara Kenny, Sarah Spellman and Laura Ward are pivotal figures. Siobhán’s goal from a 46th minute penalty gave them the breathing space they needed to overcome St Vincent’s of Dublin in the semi-final last Saturday. They had begun in lightning fashion, moving five points clear early on and then stretched that to six but the concession of a goal left them leading by just the minimum at the interval.
They were four ahead after Siobhán followed her penalty with a point from free as she brought her tally to 1-7 and they needed every one of those with just one between them at the death.
Michael ‘Hopper’ McGrath’s crew had earlier been pushed all the way by Oranmore/Maree as they bagged a fourth county title on the spin, needing goals from Shannon Corcoran and Clara Donohoe to emerge victorious.
Loughgiel have had to be patient over the years, dealing with a series of heartbreaks along the way but an apparently bottomless reservoir of resilience sees them preparing for their first ever All-Ireland senior final and attempting to become the second Antrim team to go all the way. The Saffron powerhouses – their nine-point defeat of Ballycastle was their seventh consecutive county championship success - had suffered as Derry giants Slaughtneil registered three All-Irelands on the trot and six Ulsters in succession, the provincial titles all garnered at the Shamrocks’ expense.
Loughgiel had shown more than enough to suggest that they weren’t far off however, and this year, they finally claimed the coveted scalp of their Oak Leaf rivals to claim a seventh Ulster title but their first since 2015, with five points in hand at the final whistle thanks to goals from Antrim stars Róisín McCormick and Caitrin Dobbin.
Part of Slaughtneil’s legacy is cementing a belief, inside and outside of Ulster, that the northern contingent are genuine contenders for the Bill & Agnes Carroll Cup. Loughgiel proved their mettle by accounting for the Robert Emmets and then following up against Tipperary’s Drom & Inch last weekend, when Dobbin and McCormick were once again among the goals, along with Annie Lynn.
They carry a very clear attacking threat that Sarsfields will be conscious of and are also sound defensively, while Amy Boyle and Lucia McNaughton form an excellent midfield.
It all adds up to a mouth-watering battle.
