We need to bring our A game, says camogie captain

Camogie news

Kevin Óg Carney

It’ll be a race for the Cavan senior camógs to see Mickey Graham’s lads live on the box this Saturday evening but captain Erinn Galligan hopes they’ll at least be racing down the road with smiles on their faces.

Galligan and co. will join Armagh for the throw-in at Kingspan Breffni at 1.45pm for the All-Ireland Premier Junior Championship final. By the time that Cavan go head-to-head with the Dubs later that evening at Croke Park, it is hoped the tables are turned and that the deeds of the Breffni’s flagship camogie team will be fuelling Graham and company’s ambition and self-belief.

“Cavan’s win in Armagh has definitely ignited the idea in our minds that if the lads can upset the odds with such a gutsy, never say die attitude for the 70 minutes then any big favourites can fall, especially if the underdogs believe in their own ability and push themselves well out of their comfort zone for the whole match,” Galligan explains.

Managed by Westmeath native Jimmy Greville, Cavan are also underdogs against Armagh this Saturday, albeit not quite carrying the extreme outsiders’ tag worn by the Breffni boys recently in the Athletic Grounds.

“The lads had their Ulster final this year and we have our all-Ireland final this Saturday and we will try and replicate their achievement.

“On Monday, after the Ulster final on Sunday, we were so uplifted at training after seeing the lads’ performance and seeing how much they wanted to win.

“If we can bring that same level of intensity this Saturday, we’ll be very difficult to beat. Hopefully success follows success as far as the county is concerned. We’re thankful to the county footballers for spurring us on.”

Galligan, a qualified pharmacist, reckons it’ll take a “performance of a lifetime” to take the title this weekend. Sadly, if the Breffni girls are to upset the odds, they will have to do so without two ‘erstwhile mainstays of the team as Crosserlough star Aoishe O’Reilly (broken wrist) and Carmel Fay of Castletara (broken hand) will be unavailable to manager Greville and his management team.

“Aoishe and Carmel will definitely both be missed,” Galligan declares. “They’re two experienced players who have played a lot of camogie with their clubs and their experience would have been key in the final. They’re great Cavan women. They live and breathe camogie and they’ve soldiered with us since last November and never missed training. Hopefully their absence will have the effect of driving us on this Saturday.”

The Crosserlough ace believes that playing at Kingspan Breffni this Saturday will be an advantage as it will allow the players to undergo more or less the same routine that they would if they were playing a club match in the county but she is convinced nonetheless that “Armagh will be travelling to Cavan believing they can win so we need to bring our A-game with us on Saturday.”

“It’s a massive step up for us, taking on Armagh. They have been around finals and semi-finals for a lot of years now and they’ve some seriously experienced players.

“They move the ball with pace and their first touch is great. They play a much quicker game than we’d be used to coming up against. Their ball to hand is much quicker and there’s not as many rucks as there’d be in our other games.

“We have to be alert all around the pitch on Saturday but we’ll have to watch their full forward line in particular. They will probably attempt to get the ball into them quickly so our full backs and our half back line have to be really aware of the fast ball.

“But it’s all about the team, collectively. We have to all turn up and be at our best in every position and in every line of the field.”

To work the oracle this weekend, Cavan’s captain says the match outsiders could do with taking a leaf out of their second half display in the recent semi-final win (2-16 to 1-6) over Roscommon when the blues posted a magnificent 2-10 tally to run away with the game.

“Everything just clicked for us in the second half but, overall, it was probably our best performance of the season so far.

“We weren’t happy to go in at the half-time break on level terms (0-6 to 1-3) and everyone really pulled it out in the second half, including the subs.

“The work rate and desire could be seen everywhere on the team after half-time. We were winning dirty ball and you could see the sheer hunger there to get to an all-Ireland final.

“My gut feeling is that we have a very confident, talented, enthusiastic and hungry group of girls who will die with their boots on this Saturday.

“If we lose the game, we’ll have been beaten by a better team on the day.”