Camogie Club Championship coverage proudly sponsored by Clare Credit Unions
*Grace Carmody. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
THOUGH she was only ten years of age, Grace Carmody was involved when Kilmaley last contested a senior camogie final, now she’s joint captain and bidding to get her hands on the McMahon Cup.
Grace was on the field when Kilmaley hammered Clooney/Quin 4-18 2-5 in the 2014 final but in a different guise. She was part of the U10 team participating in the half-time blitz and is now one of the driving forces in the senior side looking to win the championship for the first time in twelve years.
Reflecting on the changing roles, Grace said, “I was playing at half time at ten years of age so it is great to be able to line out this time, it has been twelve years since we’ve been in the final so to get back there is a real boost for the parish and to have the lads there the following Sunday is great too”.
Growing up, she looked up to the likes of Claire McMahon, Emma O’Driscoll, Denise Lynch and Helen McMahon who were all part of the four championship winning sides. She was “glad” to join them on the senior panel when the time came. “Claire is in the forwards but I’ve had a few run-ins with Helen alright over the years, we get on really well since the day I came in, we gel really well as a group, there was never a bit of tension”.
Serving as joint captain alongside Claire is something the twenty two year old is very proud of. “I’ve looked up to those girls for a number of years, myself and Claire are joint captains so it is a great honour to line out with her alongside me and to be able to lead the other Kilmaley girls out who I’ve literally been looking up to all my years so it is brilliant to lead them out and hopefully I’ll be a role model for a few other girls in the parish going forward”.
Talking is left to Claire among the joint captains, according to Grace. “I like to sit back and play the camogie, Claire is a solid leader for us, she has built up a huge legacy in the club over the years, she does most of the talking”.
Indeed the Carmody household will taste county final fever in abundance, Grace and her older sister Caoimhe are central pillars in the camogie side, their older brother Joe hit three points in the first round win for the hurlers and will be pushing for game time in the final against an Inagh/Kilnamona outfit captained by Caoimhe’s partner Aidan McCarthy. “It’s been twelve years since the girls were last in the final and twenty two for the lads, there has been a sort of famine in Kilmaley for the last number of years so it is great to be back in two county finals. We’ll be hoping to get over the line in one if not two of them because they don’t come around too often so you don’t want to have any regrets”.
On the senior panel for six years, Grace noted the group pairings this year ignited a sense of belief within their squad to qualify for the knockout stages. “James Healy has come in as coach this year and he has brought a new voice, a new set of eyes to the place which is great. We had the boost of winning the Division 2 league during the year so that gave us a bit of belief and encouragement going into the championship. Once the draw came out for the championship, we thought we had a huge chance to get out of the group and when it comes to knockout championship anybody can win on the day, it is great to be back in the final this year”.
Overcoming Scariff/Ogonnelloe in the semi-final saw Grace taste success in a semi-final for the first time following three previous losses to Inagh/Kilnamona at the penultimate stage. “Nobody really gave us a chance against Scariff/Ogonnelloe, they are a savage team so we knew we had to bring 110 percent workrate and intensity to get over the line, thankfully we did,” she reflected.
They will retain the tag of underdogs for Saturday’s final against Truagh/Clonlara. “We’re going to be massive underdogs, we’ve spent the last twelve years above in the stand looking down at them and at Truagh/Clonlara for six of them, they have also marched around Croke Park together so they have that experience that we’re lacking, for a lot of us it will be our first county final but sometimes you can’t beat a bit of excitement, we’ve had huge underage success and some of those girls don’t know how to lose so that is something to relish too”.
A trainee accountant, Grace has been kept busy outside of camogie, completing four exams in May with two more to go next year. “I’ve spent a lot of this year studying and in the books unfortunately. I work with my Dad in Carmody, Kelly & Associates so hopefully he will keep me on for another few years”.
Camogie talk is limited at their offices on the Kilrush Rd in Ennis, she admitted. “We keep it very professional at work. It is obviously great that we have Joe involved with the hurling too so there will probably be a lot of hurling talk around the place for the next two weeks and we’ll put it to bed in time for Christmas, hopefully”.
