John Carmody. ©INPHO/Andrew Conan
In hurling, camogie or football at any level, be it club or county, players and mentors agree that the opening game in the championship is of vital importance.
Clare senior camogie manager John Carmody readily concurs and accepts that Clare’s meeting with Wexford in the All-Ireland senior camogie championship on this Saturday is “a massive fixture and very important for us”.
Zimmer Biomet Pairc Chiosog in Ennis is the venue for this Saturday’s contest which throws in at 2p.m.
“There are three teams to qualify for the knock out stage from this group of five and both ourselves and Wexford know the importance of this fixture”, the Kilmaley clubman told The Clare Echo this week.
Earlier this year the sides met in the league when Wexford had home advantage. Clare won by the minimum margin on that occasion. “That was a really close and intense game with very little between the teams and we are expecting another close contest on Saturday”, according to the Clare boss who is expecting “a big following of Clare hurling and camogie supporters to turn out and support the side”.
In round 2 Clare will have another home tie when they take on neighbours Limerick and they will then face Cork and Tipperary who are both hotly fancied to qualify from the group, in away fixtures.
The team’s vice captain Muireann Scanlan will miss the upcoming games as she recovers from a broken collar bone while panellists Grainne McMahon and Maeve Millea will also be absent this week due to injury. Another absentee will be the experienced Laura Foley (Truagh-Cllonlara0 who is unavailable due to upcoming exams.
On the plus side Andrea O’Keeffe, Roisin Begley and Doireann Murphy are available and pushing hard for game time. They missed the league campaign
Rachel Daly has established herself as the team’s goalkeeper with some great performance over the past year and she is tipped to retain the number 1 jersey ahead of Clarecastle’s Doirenn Murphy. The manager believes that Clare “are fortunate to have two outstanding goalkeepers in our panel”.
Scariff-Ogonnelloe’s Daly is one of four sisters on the Clare panel which will also be looking to team captain Aine O’Loughlin (Truagh-Clonlara), Clare Hehir (Inagh-Kilnamona), Caoimhe Cahill (Kilmaley) and Zi Yan Spillane (Feakle) to mention a few to lead Clare’s challenge.
Since the league which ended for Clare with a loss to Antrim in the division 1 B final, the team has focused on Saturday’s championship outing.
In recent weeks they have played Dublin whom the beat 2-9 to 0-13 and Galway with whom they played a draw (1-12 each) in challenge games.
“I am happy with the preparations and we are all looking forward to Saturday’s game”, concluded team manager Carmody.
