'Mark my words, we'll be back!'

Camogie

Player of the Match Niamh Keenaghan had a hectic weekend, having lined out for the ladies senior footballers against Donegal the evening before.

“The legs were very tired but the girls made it very easy. They made all the space and allowed me just to pop the scores over, they did all the hard work and I just had to finish it,” said the Laragh player.

“Roscommon were so tight, I don’t think we’ve ever experienced that yet. They were stuck to us and we found it hard to make space but I think in the second half, we came out and we knew we had to do a job. All the girls worked really hard and pushed on.

“Very hard, especially after playing yesterday, it was tough on the legs but the lads did all they could to prepare us.”

Both Niamh and her sister Clodagh shone for Cavan. Asked how they developed their camogie skills, she joked: “I think we were both playing when we were four, we have never been off the pitch. We are constantly out practising together when we’re not fighting!”

Having fans at the game helped inspire Cavan, Niamh said.

“We noticed the difference with the supporters here. The first few games were very quiet and once you have the roar of the supporters behind you, it really pushes you on, it’s brilliant.”

Cavan’s return to the inter-county fold has been a massive success and has been driven by the camogie board, whose chairperson Michelle Smith was delighted to see the players pick up a national title.

“The last quarter probably showed the benefit of all the training, training on their own and collectively. It was unbelievable to watch in the last 15 minutes,” said Michelle.

“I think the girls are hungry for it after our first year last year and the Nancy Murray Cup win that we had. We were given an invitation to the Premier Junior Championship last year due to Covid and we lost the final to Armagh.

“But 2021 was a new start and the girls did their training on their own before we started. There’s just hunger there and we have a great panel of girls. Yes we have the dual players and they are putting in the work Monday to Saturday. When they come to camogie training during the week, the sessions are hard. And fair play to the management, Jimmy and Jim Bob and the rest, they are putting them through their paces.

“It's phenomenal what they are doing and we are delighted. Jimmy has been on the scene in Cavan for a number of years. He trained Crosserlough and was successful and the board invited him to take over the county team last year.

“It’s testament to what he has done in winning the Nancy Murray Cup and reaching the All-Ireland final and now winning the league. He is passionate. There is talent out there in every club, he knows it and sees it and that’s why we have a good squad of players from every club in the county.

“Jim Bob Baker and Marie Sheridan are in there as well. They are putting the tactics together and the girls are putting it in place on the field.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks with fixture clashes and everything else but we overcame them and today was our day. We weren’t thinking Roscommon was going to be a handy game and we are delighted with the win.

“We are up to Division 3 now next year and we are looking forward now to the Ulster Championship, we are playing Tyrone in that next Saturday and the All-Ireland series starts then on July 24.”

Westmeath native Greville himself insisted that he never felt his team would win so convincingly, although he was quietly confident they would claim the cup if they performed.

“Definitely not, we were very wary of them coming in because they had added to the panel from last year. When I was over Crosserlough, Four Roads gave us a bit of a trimming in an All-Ireland semi-final so I knew it was going to be a tough game. The homework was done and the buzz all week in the camp was a credit to the girls, it was phenomenal,” the manager said.

“I don’t even know the end score but it’s just a credit to them and you have to take your hat off to the girls who played the football yesterday, Niamh, Ciara and Sinead, and they were three of the best players there today.

“They are hungry for the ball and if we can get the ball to our forwards as much as we can, they are going to do damage. And that’s what they did, when they got the bit of space, they did all that.

“You can mark my words, this is not going to be the last you’ll see of this team in a final this year if we keep going the way we’re going.”

Greville also heaped praise on the team’s resilient defence.

“The forwards get all the credit because they are the ones who put the ball over the bar but the ball has to come from somewhere. We set out a marker at the beginning that we wanted to turn over the ball and move the ball. The transition was phenomenal. That’s what it’s all about.

“Erinn Galligan is there now lifting the cup and that’s what all the hard work is for. There are a lot of girls there who make serious sacrifices and that’s what it’s for there now. And they’re hungry for more. They’re going to be back, I promise you that.”

Galligan herself, the team captain, is getting used to making acceptance speeches given her success at club and county levels.

“I must admit now, that second half, it was our first collective team performance. The backs snuffed out everything, they were relentless in their tackling and their pressure,” she said.

“And when the backs won the ball, the options there in the half-forward line were great, they were constantly in front, waiting for the out ball. We let the fast ball in, like we have been coached all year, and our game plan came to the fore in the second half.

“It was just a joy to play because you could see what we had been trying to do being executed perfectly.

“We found in the back line that they were swapping their players a lot in different positions and it took us a while to say ‘this is my player, I’m going to stick with her wherever she goes’. And we did that, we snuffed out any chances of overlaps.

“We were creating pressure. They didn’t get the shots off because of that like we did and we were able to drive on then when we had that platform.”

A first-half save from Kilkenny native Laura Bambrick was key, she said.

“It could have been a different game if that had gone in, Laura has been brilliant all year. Surrounded by great leaders there today and hopefully we can progress it now as we move on to bigger battles.”

Erinn also had a word for injured star Roisin O’Keeffe.

“Roisin is such a fantastic player, she is actually irreplaceable, but we all said we were going out there today to do it for her. She is a fantastic leader for Cavan camogie over the years and if there was one person we wanted to do it for, it was Roisin.

“Like that, there is serious competition here and players are willing to step up. It’s healthy competition, we are all in it for the good of Cavan camogie.”