Naomh Ciarán ladies bid to make history
By Kevin Egan
Three Offaly hurling clubs - Kilcormac-Killoughey, Clodiagh Gaels and Carrig & Riverstown - are looking to get one step closer to a tilt at provincial glory this weekend.
But Offaly LGFA senior champions Naomh Ciarán have achieved their passage through to a Leinster final already, and tomorrow afternoon (Saturday) at 1pm in Kinnegad, they face defending Leinster champions Kilmacud Crokes of Dublin. It's a game which gives the Ferbane-based side an opportunity to make history and break new ground for an Offaly club in Leinster senior competition.
A ten-point margin between the two sides in a game that was played in Ferbane last year makes it painfully obvious how much ground the west Offaly club have to make up, but there’s no doubt that they have made progress and are capable of keeping this one competitive, at the very least.
There’s a range of scoring threats in the side; Róisín Ennis and Kate Kenny are very much at the peak of their powers now and would be valuable assets to any county team, never mind a club side; and they’ve done a lot of work on defensive structures, while still allowing their attacking play to flourish.
But there’s no getting away from the scale of the challenge. Kilmacud Crokes are as good as any club team in Ireland, with the possible exception of Kilkerrin-Clonberne, and even then, if those two sides line up against each other in an All-Ireland semi-final, as they are expected to, it will be seen as a toss of a coin game.
The competition doesn’t get any hotter, and it looks like one of those games where Naomh Ciarán will have to find a nine-out-of-ten performance and for Kilmacud to not quite hit their highest notes in order for an upset to be possible.
It might even be the case that Milltown’s strong showing in the semi-final will be enough to put the south Dublin side back on track and focus their minds. However for the Dublin champions, this is another Leinster final.
For these Naomh Ciarán players, this is as big as any game they’ve ever played, including their All-Ireland intermediate final, and anything they’ve done with Offaly. If they can rise to that challenge, who knows?