*Truagh/Clonlara celebrating winning their maiden senior championship in 2023. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
OWEN Fitzgerald is in his second season as one of the team coaches with the Truagh/Clonlara senior camogie side.
As they put the finishing touches to preparations for what is the biggest day in the club’s history he readily acknowledges “we are up against a hugely experienced side. They have been in nine of the last eleven finals, they are favourites but look at Ballygunner last week, they were raging hot favourites. The bigger they are the harder they fall”, Owen told The Clare Echo.
Reflecting on his side’s march to Sunday’s All-Ireland final he said “they have had so many setbacks losing semi-finals and finals. There are a couple of girls out this year, Roisin Powell and Niamh Powell are injured while Michelle Caulfield isn’t available”.
Setting out at the start of 2024 he said the aim was to retain the league and championship titles they won last year. “We were beaten by Inagh/Kilnamona in the league final and that proved to be a great spur for us when we met them in the championship final”.
Recalling the team’s county semi-final win over Scariff/Ogonnelloe, he said “any time we meet them it’s a tough game. We were chasing them for a long time. They were in All-Ireland semi-finals in 2019 and 2021. We were trying to get up there long enough, we had lost two semi-finals and two finals. They (Scariff/Ogonnelloe) made us raise our standards”.
Having retained the Clare title, they were determined going into the Munster campaign. “We were disappointed last year. After we beat Clonouty they were disappointed and I said to them that it’s very hard to get up to the pitch of the game in Munster. Usually the teams that go far in the provincial campaign have two or three consecutive county titles to their credit. It’s more a mental thing”.
Commenting on his side’s win over Gailtir in the Munster final, he said “they are a class team. The first thing I said to Ryan (Morris, a fellow team mentor) was that Gailtir could be back in four or five finals in a row, they are a young team”.
Noting that the Clare club celebrated the Munster tile well he said “on such occasions you often imagine everyone in the pub. When we got back home that evening the underage players were around in the village and they met the girls on the street and it was great to see the interaction between them”.
After the Munster win the players were given a couple of days off before returning to training ahead of their All-Ireland semi-final against the Dublin and Leinster champions. “That game against St Vincent’s epitomises the journey we are on, the result, the second half performance. It’s no secret that Dublin clubs have resources and big squads to pick from. You can have all of that but when it comes down to it, it is who wants it more and that’s what won us that game”.
He is satisfied that Truagh/Clonlara have “a very settled side. We are riding a wave and we hope to keep that going for as long as we can”.
Asked if the players will be nervous on Sunday he replied “if there aren’t nerves going into an All-Ireland final, there will be something wrong”.
Concluding he said, “Clare camogie wouldn’t be at the top table that often so hopefully all followers in the county will be in Croke Park to support us on Sunday”.
