Galway camogie will take inspiration from the county’s male footballers says Aine Keane
When it comes to searching for inspiration ahead of their All-Ireland senior championship quarter-final clash with Waterford at Croke Park this Sunday, Aine Keane and her Galway camogie team-mates don’t have far to look.
Despite the triumphs of their fellow challengers Armagh, Donegal and Kerry, it was the Galway men’s footballers who grabbed the headlines last weekend with a stunning victory over defending champions Dublin at the last-eight stage of the All-Ireland Senior Championship in GAA HQ on Saturday.
While the county’s camogie side weren’t able to attend due to their Round Five game with Cork in Group Two of the All-Ireland series taking place at Páirc Uí Chaoimh earlier on the same day, they were glued to their devices on the way home as Padraic Joyce’s outfit ended the Sky Blues’ hopes of retaining the Sam Maguire Cup.
“We were coming back from Cork. We were only able to watch it on the bus. It would have been great to be here, but it was special all the same to watch it on the phone,” Keane said at the launch of the All-Ireland camogie quarter-finals in Croke Park yesterday.
“The boys were incredible, they really were. They showed us that anything is possible even when everyone writes you off. It was an excellent game and we can take, I suppose, inspiration from that as well and hope that we can achieve the same.”
The St Thomas’ star most recently played in Croke Park when her county lost out to Tipperary in a National Camogie League Division 1A decider on April 14 and her latest appearance in the venue is one of two double-headers that will be held there this weekend.
On Saturday, a semi-final spot in the All-Ireland senior camogie championship will be up for grabs when Dublin take on provincial rivals Kilkenny at 12.30pm. At 3pm on the same day, the latter’s male compatriots face Clare in the last-four of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship for the third year in succession.
There are also a brace of mouthwatering clashes down for decision on Sunday with Galway’s aforementioned camogie quarter-final with Waterford (1.30pm) preceding the tantalising duel between Limerick and Cork on the opposite side of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship (4pm).
With the anticipation being that a sell-out crowd will descend upon GAA HQ for this day, Keane is excited about what lies in store for their showdown with the Deise.
“Any day you get to play in Croke Park, it’s a special day. When you start the year, you want to get to knockout camogie. We’re going to play here now on Sunday in front of hopefully a sold-out crowd.
“If we can only have half that sold-out crowd watching our game, it would be an unbelievable experience for all of us players.”
Courtesy of topping Group One and Two respectively, Tipperary and Cork are already guaranteed a place in the All-Ireland senior camogie championship semi-finals – which are due to be held at Nowlan Park in Kilkenny on July 27.
Although a draw would have sufficed, Cork emphatically sealed an automatic last-four spot with a 2-16 to 1-7 success at home to Galway last Saturday.
Keane acknowledged Cathal Murray’s westerners fell well short of the required standard in this game and is grateful they have an immediate chance to bounce back from their 12-point reversal to the Leesiders.
“Obviously Saturday was very disappointing on our behalf. We really underperformed and Cork made us pay for that. As of last Saturday it was an eight-day turnaround, it’s less now. In one way it’s a good thing because we haven’t time to think about it and dwell on it,” Keane added.
“It’s get back into training this week and just try and rebuild. Stick to what we know. We know we’re good enough and we know the last day wasn’t our best performance as a team. We hope on Sunday we’ll have a good day out.”