*Andrea O’Keeffe. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
With league honours safely secured Clare camogie’s focus is now very much on the All-Ireland championship which gets under way on this Saturday at Zimmer Biomet Pairc Chiósog where their opponents will be Dublin, the team they defeated in the league final which was played at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny.
Kilmaley’s Caoimhe Cahill who suffered a shoulder injury early in that game is ruled out but otherwise manager Eugene Foudy and his backroom team have a full squad from which to select Saturday’s starting side.
“The league is over and done with. The league campaign saw many players gain valuable experience. This is a new competition which has our total focus. We have five games in the group stage and our aim is to qualify for the knockout stage. The focus is one game at a time and right now our sole focus is on Dublin”, manager Foudy told The Clare Echo this week.
“We played Dublin twice in the league, drew with them in Abbotstown before beating them in the final. They will want to reverse that result. They are an experienced outfit who played in Division 1A last year so we know that we are facing a big test”, the Inagh-Kilnamona clubman added.
Shortly after the league final win, Clare suffered a heart-breaking one point loss, after extra time, to Waterford in the Munster championship, a game played at Cusack Park.
Since then they have trained hard and played some challenge games against the likes of Galway and Cork. “We also competed in the under 23 championship and between that and the challenge games, all of the panel have got game time. As I said Dublin will be driven by the fact that we beat them in the league final and you learn a lot in defeat”, manager Foudy said.
The manager believes that “home advantage can be a help and we have a 100% record from our home games in the league this season. We hope to make our home venue a fortress and win both of our games there in this campaign”.
Clare are jointly captained by half backs Abby Walsh (Scariff-/Ogonnelloe) and Clare Hehir (Inagh/Kilnamona), both of whom were outstanding throughout the league.
Goalkeeper Doireann Murphy (Clarecastle) and full forward Lorna McNamara (Feakle/Killanena) neither of whom were available last season, have played key parts in the team’s winning run in the league which has earned them division 1 A status for next season
Elsewhere the Daly sisters, Andrea O’Keeffe, Roisin Begley, Aine O’Loughlin and ZiYan Spillane have been prominent and followers will be looking to them to again deliver this week.
“The girls have trained really really hard, there is a very positive vibe in the camp and we are looking forward to the upcoming campaign”, the manager said.
Clare will have three games in as many weeks. They will follow Saturday’s home tie with an away game against Wexford and then it’s back to home ground for a meeting with neighbours Limerick. The will then travel to play Kilkenny before concluding their round robin schedule away to Offaly.
