The build-up to Sunday’s SE Systems Senior Camogie Championship divisional final has been anything but smooth for Carbery, but they’re rolling with the punches and keen to land the knock-out blow.
If Carbery beat Avondhu at Castle Road on Sunday (4pm), they will progress to the preliminary quarter-finals of the championship and join the three third-placed clubs from the group stages.
The prize is a big one, but Carbery must negotiate a busy week for their clubs and hope their players come through unscathed.
Already, Sinead Hurley has been ruled out of the divisional decider after picking up an injury in Enniskeane’s 2-12 to 1-13 win against Clonakilty in the premier intermediate championship on Sunday night.
‘Sinead is a big loss to us – she was centre forward on the team that beat Seandún,’ says Teddy O’Regan, the Carbery Camogie chairman who is also part of the divisional team’s management set-up.
Carbery will also be without the injured Newcestown duo of Ciara O’Sullivan and Sarah Burrows. With several clubs in action this week, Carbery are adopting a wait-and-see approach.
‘Ballinascarthy, Kilbrittain, Newcestown, St Colum’s – they are all in county camogie championship action,’ O’Regan pointed out, highlighting how it will be a busy day for a number of Carbery players.
Clonakilty footballers are home to Aghada at 12pm in the senior championship – Niamh Kennedy, Amy McCarthy, Katie O’Driscoll, and Sinéad Crowley all played in Carbery’s impressive win over Seandún last month. St Colum’s are due to travel to Dripsey for a junior F football championship game that throws in at 6.30pm, so that’s asking a lot of Cork star Libby Coppinger and her sister Maggie to play back-to-back championship games.
‘It’s not ideal, but that’s the situation we’re in,’ Teddy O’Regan says, and Carbery’s preparation for the divisional final was hampered by Muskerry pulling out of their scheduled divisional group game on Monday night.
Carbery beat Seandún 2-18 to 1-8 in their group opener and wanted the chance to build on that, but Muskerry couldn’t field.
‘We were looking forward to playing Muskerry because we want to get the girls together and play as a team as much as we can. Their priority is with their clubs, so we don’t have the players for a whole pile of time,’ O’Regan says.
‘Even when we have them, we never have them all because it can clash with club training. This was an opportunity to play another game, but it didn’t work out.
‘We have the Seandún game together, and hopefully that will stand to us.’
Carbery are stepping into the unknown against Avondhu because the latter hasn’t played at all in this competition – Carrigdhoun conceded to Avondhu in the other divisional group.
‘They have a big pick, so we are cautiously optimistic,’ O’Regan says.
‘There is no divisional board for camogie in Duhallow, so Avondhu have a pick of the entire north of Cork – there are a lot of good players there, so we are treating them with respect.
‘For us, this is another chance to show the quality of players in the Carbery division. We have spoken about doing ourselves justice, and we feel the girls here are as good as in any other division, and we want to push on.
‘Our clubs are progressing well in the county championships, and we want to keep that going – a rising tide lifts all boats.’
There were certainly positive noises after Carbery got the better of Seandún, with Moira Barrett and Millie Condon scoring the goals for a divisional team keen on making its mark. They get another chance on Sunday, and the reward is a preliminary quarter-final berth.
