By Kevin Egan
Not since the turn of the millennium, when Cork won seven titles between 1995 and 2001, did any county reach seven Centra National Camogie League finals in a row. Galway have achieved that now after they overcame Cork by 0-18 to 1-9 at Kenny Park in Athenry on Saturday, and after the game, manager Cathal Murray gave some indication as to why this competition has become so important to them.
“We need this game, we’ve no Leinster championship or Munster championship, we’d be sitting down today and not playing again until the 6th of June if we didn’t win today. It’s great to have a game in three weeks to prepare for,” Murray (below) said.
The final will see the All-Ireland champions take on Waterford on Sunday week in UPMC Nowlan Park, with the game live on RTÉ, as will the Division 1B final between Clare and Dublin, which will be the first leg of the double header.
Waterford have beaten Galway once already in 2026, though that game took place a few days after extreme weather conditions in New York forced a late return from the team holiday of the O’Duffy Cup winners.
“We knew against Waterford that our preparation wasn’t ideal and that we weren’t going to be at our best, and if you don’t prepare properly for a team of that quality, you’re never going to beat them,” said Murray.
“We were staring down the barrel of relegation, or at least not making the league final. The girls showed great resilience, we got a great win down in The Ragg, we had a good win up in Antrim, and we still didn’t think we’d done enough but today was definitely our best performance of the year so far. We played very well, worked really hard and it’s great to get the win and the bonus is getting to a league final.”
A stunning late goal from Cliona Griffin wasn’t enough to stop Antrim falling to a 2-18 to 1-12 loss to Kilkenny in UPMC Nowlan Park, a result that means that the Saffrons will drop back down to Division 1B, one year after coming up, but having been very competitive ahead of a tilt at the intermediate championship.
The first division to be completed was Division 3B, with Mayo the champions on foot of a 2-12 to 1-6 final win over Monaghan at Mostrim GAA.
Team captain and player of the match, Lisa Scahill was part of the Mayo side that came back to intercounty competition in 2021 and immediately enjoyed success in the league and the Nancy Murray Cup, and she was delighted to get back to winning ways, after the county had taken a year out in 2025.
To that end, she knew just what it meant for Monaghan to follow in their footsteps for the first time in 15 year this term.
“We said to the girls before the game, these days don’t come along very often and when they do you have to grab the bull by the horns and make sure you perform,” said Scahill.
“The biggest thing about today is it’s great for the development of smaller camogie counties. It’s great to see the likes of ourselves and Monaghan putting out teams at inter-county level and putting on a great game out there.
Mayo captain, Lisa Scahill was player of the match (Photo: INPHO/Tom Maher)
“Those two or three years (from 2021) were great, but after that the timing was a problem, a lot of girls had to step away due to travelling and work and other things, so we’re in a similar position to Monaghan now, starting over. There’s a new batch here now, they’re young, they’re eager to play for Mayo, and today will be great for them.”
Tipperary eased to a 3-21 to 1-8 win over Waterford in a game where the Déise had nothing at stake, while in Division 1B, Down are relegated after Emma Tomkins shot some excellent points for Wexford in an 0-15 to 0-10 win. Clare continued their strong run of form beating Offaly by 2-17 to 2-11, but the game of the day was in Abbotstown, where Dublin met Limerick in a de facto league semi-final.
Goals from Grace O’Shea and Aisling Maher helped Dublin to lead by 2-6 to 0-0 after 22 minutes, and they cruised to a 2-17 to 2-8 win.
Manager Bill McCormack said that his team’s shock reverse to Down earlier in the campaign became a real turning point for his team.
“It was a nice awakening for the group to kick on for the rest of the league, there were no excuses in that Down game, we were just outmuscled and outworked,” said McCormack..
“We got lucky in that Clare came late to edge out Limerick and that meant that everything was still in our own hands. It still meant that every game we played was effectively knockout, we had to be fully focused and perfect in what we did.”
McCormack said that reaching a league final and gaining promotion was a “stated goal” of his players, and how a big day out in Kilkenny would stand to the players.
“If you’re pulling on boots, your playing days don’t last as long as you think and you want to make sure you take all the opportunities you get to play at the highest level, and to be part of the big days. This needs to be a springboard for the rest of the campaign now.”
Wexford travelled to Down and prevailed by 0-15 to 0-10.
In Division 2A, Kerry beat Derry and Meath got the draw they needed to join the Kingdom in the final, with Carlow relegated after their 0-17 to 1-14 draw with the Royals.
Tyrone fell two points short in their trip to Kildare so they failed to overtake Roscommon in Division 3A, meaning that Armagh will play the Rossies in the final. Wicklow’s relegation was confirmed before their loss to Armagh in Granemore.
