*Ellen Casey has made the step-up to the senior side for Clare. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
A YOUNG and relatively new look Clare will begin their Munster senior camogie championship campaign with a semi-final date with favourites Cork at SuperValu Pairc Uí Chaoimh at 12 noon on Sunday.
The game is a curtain raiser to the Munster senior hurling championship round 2 meeting of the same counties, a game that is of huge importance to both counties.
“It’s a big weekend for Clare camogie as our intermediate team take on Kerry at Lixnaw on Saturday at 2p.m. and this is also a provincial semi-final”, explained Kilmaley’s John Carmody who manages both squads.
“We have an experienced core to the intermediate team with Sinead O’Keeffe (team captain), Rebecca Crowe, Sinead Hogg, Kate O’Gorman, Rachel Kelly and Olivia Phelan. We will have nine or ten new faces as we face an experienced Kerry team that will carry the favourites tag”, Carmody outlined.
Clare will also carry the underdogs tag for Sunday’s senior game against Cork. Definitely out of the squad are Lorna McNamara (injured), Laura Foley and Eimear Begley who are members of the Catholic Institute hockey team which will pay the league final this week before playing the cup final a week later. “Once their hockey commitments are over after the cup final, they will be available to us for the upcoming All-Ireland camogie campaign and they will be a huge throw in to us for that campaign”, the manager told The Clare Echo this week.
“We have been building a new team this year and we are very pleased with the response to date. Training has been going well. We know that Cork are the favourites for Sunday’s clash but we hope to be very competitive. We have been building for the All-Ireland campaign which gets underway on May 25 when we will be at home to Down”, he said.
In the group stage of the All-Ireland series Clare will have five games. After the home game against Down, Clare will be away to Dublin, at home to Cork, away to Galway and at home to Wexford. Three will qualify from that group.
With an expected big attendance on Sunday, all involved with the camogie side will be hoping that Clare fans will travel early and support the girls as the team which is jointly captained by Ciara Grogan (Clooney/Quin) and Áine O’Loughlin (Truagh/Clonlara) chase a place in the Munster final.
There will be a quarter final game in the Munster championship on this Sunday when Limerick play Waterford with the winners going through to play Tipperary in the other semi-final.
