Clanmaurice were victorious in the AIB All-Ireland Intermediate Club Camogie Championship Final.
At Croke Park they defeated Na Fianna, Meath 1-7 to 0-7.
A goal in the 41st minute by Amy O’Sullivan, within seconds of her introduction was the key score.
The only adult side in Kerry until last year, they were moved up to the second tier and only lost the All-Ireland semi-final after extra time to eventual champions Clonduff. And despite having just a panel of 17 to call on in the decider, they were able to finish the job with O’Sullivan making a massive contribution off the bench.
Patrice Diggin’s ongoing injury issues had her playing in at full-forward where she was tracked by Shauna Ennis, with at least one other defender slotting in alongside once Clanmaurice gained possession. That left the Munster champions with a plus one at the other end.
There were opportunities nonetheless in the expanses of Croke Park but the teams had five wides between them in the first nine minutes, indicating that there was much good play but the finishing touch was lacking.
The opener was an excellent score when it did come from Na Fianna’s Aoife Carey in the 11th minute, the midfielder splitting the posts from a free around 40m out and tight to the right sideline.
The Meath side had a gilt-edged goal chance soon after, following some slick inter-passing, but Emma Regan must not have seen Máire Kirby inside and overcarried.
Diggin equalised in the 14th minute, though it needed Hawk-Eye’s intervention to overrule the umpires after her shot from a 40m free was initially waved wide.
Na Fianna were more threatening though, with Kerrie Cole the conduit much of the time with her solo runs, but Niall Burke’s crew did not get the type of dividends they should have from those efforts.
In the 20th minute, Cole’s long ball evaded three players, including Clanmaurice goalie Aoife Fitgerald. It seemed certain that Kirby would finish from about three feet to an empty net but Rachel McCarthy got back to prevent her doing so, though the challenge from behind failed to make any connection with the sliotar and was certainly on the borderline of legality.
Four minutes later, Cole did the spadework for Aedin Slattery to drive over the game’s first score from play. Niamh Leen was moved onto the diminutive speedster, who promptly rounded the Clan skipper but was then met with a late tackle that earned Sara Murphy a yellow card.
John Madden made one more switch in bringing Diggin out, with Jackie Horgan, another talismanic player that had struggled to get into the game, now in her regular full-forward slot.
Clan resumed in far livelier fashion and though Sophie Payne continued to have an impact for Na Fianna, Cole’s influence was nullified to a significant degree.
Diggin and Carey swapped points from frees but then came the Clanmaurice purple patch, kickstarted, after good work by Danielle O’Leary, by a Julianne O’Keeffe point in the 41st minute. It was O’Keeffe’s last act as she departed the fray along with Kate Lynch, replaced by Elaine Ryall and O’Sullivan.
Immediately, O’Sullivan had a goal, as Leen won the puckout and got the ball to Caoimhe Spillane, whose delivery looked sure to be gathered by Niamh Kirby. The alert O’Sullivan got a flick to dispossess the netminder in the midst of controlling the sliotar however and finished off the sod to the empty net.
In such a tight encounter, it seemed pivotal and with the wind in their sails, Horgan lofted a phenomenal point after a clever switch of the play by Diggin to put five between them.
Na Fianna drove forward however, helped by a retreating Clanmaurice. Aoife Fitzgerald made a smart save from Cole but the Royals chipped away at the deficit, with two pointed frees by Carey and a stupendous score from Payne.
It was O’Sullivan who had the last say however, with a brilliant point off her left and the final whistle sounded seconds later.
SCORERS FOR CLANMAURICE: P Diggin 0-4fs; A O’Sullivan 1-1; J Horgan, J O’Keeffe 0-1 each
SCORERS FOR NA FIANNA: A Carey 0-5fs; A Slattery, S Payne 0-1 each
CLANMAURICE: A Fitzgerald, M Costellow, S Murphy, R McCarthy, A Behan, N Leen, A O’Connor, D O’Leary, K Lynch, A M Leen, L Collins, C Spillane, J O’Keeffe, P Diggin, J Horgan. Subs: E Ryall for O’Keeffe (41), A O’Sullivan for Lynch (41)
NA FIANNA: N Kirby, C Coffey, S Ennis, G Grehan, S Payne, E Fagan, L Devine, A Slattery, A Carey, B Kelly, A Byrne, K Cole, M Kirby, E Regan, B Flynn. Subs: E Leddy for Flyn (42), L Dixon for Kelly (50)
Clanmaurice joint-captains Michelle Costelle and Niamh Leen
Goalscorer Amy O’Sullivan: “It’s been a long time coming for these girls,” said O’Sullivan of her many more experienced colleagues who had soldiered through difficult times over the years and lifted the fortunes of camogie in the Kingdom along the way with All-Ireland and League titles for club and county.
“I’m new to the panel, it’s my second year in the squad after coming through with Cill Ard, but they’ve gone through it all and kept going. It’s a small panel of players. The girls grew up with each other really. They were the first club in Kerry camogie and there’s a few clubs going around now. Now, young girls watching this on television today might look for hurls off Santy this week.
“I was injured the last eight months, so I trained Tuesday and Thursday and that was it. And thankfully, things seem to be looking up (for me). I’ve a few more weeks of rehab to go but hopefully 2024 now, I’ll be right.
“There’s a serious motivation when you’re training by yourself, trying to do the runs two or three weeks ago knowing you’re going to be coming to Croke Park and hopefully lift the trophy.
“I’d be more nervous watching than I would ever be playing. You’re sitting in the dugout and you can’t do nothing about it. When you’re playing yourself, you can change something. So coming on, I suppose it was a fairytale to stick in a little goal. It was serious ferocious work in there. There wasn’t a second to blink really because it was up there for a second and then it was gone down. Two points is a dangerous lead, especially in an All-Ireland final in Croke Park.
“You’re gonna try everything. You’re only on for 15 minutes so lucky it worked out. The point in the end was the cherry on the top but I got blocked for one before that so I had to come away with something.
“It’s a nice Christmas present.”
“Crazy,” was the summation of Jackie Horgan. “Clanmaurice, when we started, losing junior matches… To be up here in Croke Park, the week of Christmas with 17 players after winning the club All-Ireland intermediate. I know everyone says it, it’s a dream to play here. It’s a dream to play here but it’s a dream to win here. It’s just…”
Crazy.
“We’re struggling (for numbers) but we’re happy to struggle and drive it on. I started playing camogie nine years ago and where I started and where it’s came to, it’s just incredible. And that’s down to – I know the players – but it’s the people that put in time. People in the background, doing training, hotels, food, everything sorted. The amount of people doing work in Kerry – they get thanks but they hide behind the scenes. It’s for them and it’s for everyone in Kerry.
“September last year, when we heard we were after being put up intermediate, we were thinking, ‘That might be the end of the run for Clanmaurice.’ I know we’ve only 17 girls but they’re just incredible. The hooking, the blocking. Patrice (Diggin) is going off one leg, she’s hitting frees over from the sideline, 65 yards (out). The belief in that group is unbelievable and it showed out there today.
“We knew it would be a battle. The first half, we’d only a point on the board after 27 minutes. At half-time, we knew we hadn’t played. We seemed to be getting sucked back a lot. There was no structure to our game. We had to get our half-forward line back up the field. The backs were under so much pressure because we were nearly inviting them on us. We got that right and look, thankfully it worked.”
Clanmaurice coach Eddie Murphy
