Camógs take on Roscommon in National League final

Camogie

Paul Fitzpatrick

The Cavan senior camogie team will appear in yet another final this Sunday as they take on Roscommon in the National League Division 4 decider (2pm, Pearse Park, Longford) and, according to captain Erinn Galligan, there is a great buzz in the camp in the build-up.

“We’re looking forward to it, that’s why we play and what we train hard for. We’re taking it one step at a time,” stated the Crosserlough defender.

“This is a new panel, it’s a new year. We have a lot of players added on and unfortunately lost some players from last year so we just looked at this year as a new year, we took it game by game and tried to improve as we went.

“It’s great to get back into a final. It adds a buzz and even at training, you can see that people are excited, you’d know that something big is happening this weekend. That’s why we play sport, isn’t it?”

Cavan overcame Mayo last weekend in what was a stern test, with the winners eventually pulling away in the second half.

“We felt that Mayo were definitely a massive test. We all were kind of in shock in the first 15, 20 minutes by the physical battle they brought and their aggression on the ball. We were all taken aback and it took us about 15 or 20 minutes to adjust to that, they kind of bullied us a bit in the first half.

“Then when we got used to that physicality, we settled into the game and showed what we could do. It was good to get that match, all of us walked off the pitch saying ‘God, it was great to get that test’. We know that when the chips are down, we can keep our cool, not panic and keep working on our game plan.

“We rode out that storm and then we came out in the second half and showed our flair and our game plan came through and I think we beat them with our running game then.

“We were all chuffed to come away from that because it was our first true test and we answered it well I think.”

Cavan beat the Rossies twice last year but that will mean nothing this Sunday, warned Galligan.

“We are expecting a massive battle. We can’t look at last year because we know Roscommon’s team has been added to massively from last year, they have lots of new players in and they’re really making a big push to get out of Division 4, no more than ourselves.

“Last year is last year, we have to park that and have a new desire. If we don’t have the right attitude and complete focus then we could be found wanting. We still have to believe that if we play to our potential, we can beat them but we have to have the right attitude and work-rate for 60 minutes,” she said.