The black and amber followers flock to Charleville on Sunday for their fourth All Ireland semi final appearance in five seasons. A bus load and more will back their bid for a second Croke Park date on the first of March.
Selector Jim Russell expects another explosion of colour in the stands. “With the last year or two, they have built up a good fan base. We had good support in Fermoy for the Munster final and in the semi final we actually outnumbered the Borrisoleigh crowd that day. Around the town at the moment, the buzz is starting to build so we are hoping to have good support there.”
Russell reports no injury worries in the camp. After retaining provincial power in November, they kept their heads down over the Christmas and New Year period. “Things are going very well. We were training up to Christmas and then we gave them a week off. Since then, we are after playing three challenge matches, two against Cork minors and one against UCC. We were very happy with those games.”
Opponents Oranmore/Maree qualified for the last four as Galway intermediate winners but they lost the subsequent Connacht final to Roscommon representatives Four Roads by 3-2 to 1-6. Galway senior Ailish O'Reilly carries a formidable scoring threat. “Their centre forward is on the Galway senior team and she is their main player. Sarah Fenton played against them in a challenge match with NUIG. We will be concentrating on our own game more than anything else. We know a bit about them and in an All Ireland semi final you are up against the best and they will be a hard nut to crack.”
Twelve weeks have passed since their last competitive outing but Russell feels confident that they will reach championship pace straight away. “In challenge matches, you can’t take a whole pile from them. We know what we are made of and when it comes to championship, they can turn it on.”
Conditions won’t worry them either as they are a battle hardened group at this stage. Thirteen of the Munster final fifteen started at GAA HQ last March. Tanya Morrissey has swatted away serious injury setbacks to take over between the posts and produced two important saves last time out while Sharon Williams has established herself at midfield.
They survived an almighty scare in the county final when St Anne’s threatened to overthrow the reigning champions. In Munster, they bounced back from a slow start away to Borrisoleigh and withstood anything Sarsfields could fling at them in Fermoy. Experience counts for so much in knockout fare and around the middle Shauna Kiernan, Shona Curran and Gráinne Kenneally scrap for every crumb. When the steam rises, Aoife Hannon, Ruth Geoghegan, Nicola Morrissey and Caithriona McGlone produce match winning moments up front.
Leaving the big house empty handed first time around against Ballyhale Shamrocks remains their only regret from 2014. With their loyal fans ready to invade Charleville, they should have another headline date to plan for.
No comments:
Post a Comment