What an amazing week of GAA and Camogie we've had. Dublin have done the double in hurling and Gaelic football! What an achievement! I commend any team who can do that in any sport today. On an equally exciting note, there was extra time in all corners of the GAA world. Wexford and Kilkenny drew in the U21 Leinster Final, Waterford and Kilkenny gave us high octane excitement and again Wexford and Clare in the senior hurling qualifiers brought the game to extra time in Thurles last Saturday.
Wexford and Clare face each other again this weekend in an identical game, both camogie teams vying for a spot in the All Ireland quarter final. It is a long time since Wexford have been in this position. Clare and Wexford have both lost out to all but Derry in the round robin stages up to now but there is nothing like a final curtain call to bring out the best performances in all on the championship stage. I will put my money on Wexford, even though we have had some of our toughest games in the past few years against the Banner county. I might add that I had the privilege of being in Clare for a ' come dance with me' gig performed by the hurlers and Camogie players last winter. The unity among the players was obvious and the dance moves would give Diversity a run for their money!
Galway will secure their spot this weekend in a semi final if they can overcome Derry. Kilkenny can take a breather as they are clear cut senior semi finalists! Cork and Offaly are cruising in group 2. This weekend is just a matter of placing for them. The Intermediate tribeswomen are also flying the flag proudly with a clean slate. It seems to be all to play for in group 1 of the Liberty Insurance Intermediate Camogie Championship whereas in Group 2 Wexford and Meath will battle it out this Saturday to progress further into the summer. Laois and Kildare are strong at Junior Level. Although Laois have beaten Kildare earlier, it will be an interesting match up should they meet again and with Westmeath and Down hot on their heels, anything is possible!
Limerick hurlers gave us all something to cheer about on Sunday, they were outstanding. You would have to question the sending off of Pat Horgan as it affected the Cork performance and took a little from sporting Limerick's historic win. It’s refreshing to see Donal Óg say it as it is on the Sunday game with plenty of relative points to make. He knows his stuff.
Hydration was a hot topic of conversation last week with the current heat wave. But the heat also got me thinking about our gear. Without question we break a sweat in every Camogie game but this Summer has brought overheating to a whole new level! Granted we have come a long way from the woollen jersey but is there still room for improvement? Helmets, socks and skorts are areas that could certainly be looked at. Socks are still on the woolly side, the helmet is a first class sweatbox. And the skort? I don’t think I need to go into detail on that one. We all know the ups and downs of the skort since its introduction! However, I wouldn’t advocate changing over to shorts. Skorts look well (even though comfort could be improved). Perhaps a group of players could come together to discuss the downfalls of our helmets, socks and skorts, then pool ideas for a comfortable chin piece, a dri fit sock(nike style) and a re-invented feminine skort!For now it’s back to watching scoreboards and waiting for online updates. Looking forward to seeing who can pull through to the semi finals after this weekend. It’s showtime!
