Who can stop Drom & Inch’s bid for 4 in a row
Drom & Inch will go into this year’s County Senior Camogie Championship as many people’s favourites having captured the last three county titles in a row, as well as the 2020 Munster title.
But the chasing pack are well in the hunt with all three of last year’s semi-finalists, Clonoulty/Rossmore, Cashel King Cormacs and Eire Og Annacarty well capable of dethroning the champions.
In fact, only for small margins, most notably a penalty save in the latter stages of the county final, and it could well easily have been Clonoulty who got their hands on the O’Dowd trophy for the first time.
Clonoulty/Rossmore will welcome back the return of Tipperary senior defender Clodagh Quirke who missed last year’s campaign through injury. She will be no doubt be a huge addition to them, but they will however be without last year’s captain and midfielder Cora Hennessey who welcomed a new daughter to the family recently.
Clonoulty have plenty of underage talent coming through with Lorna Ryan and Kate Ferncombe starring for the Tipperary minor team this year. Lorna was a regular on the club team last year while Kate featured as a sub. Both now a year older and more experienced could be key if Clonoulty are to go one step further than 2020 and 2021.
In last year’s final Cait Devane scored 9 points (7 frees) out of their total tally of 1-10. Casey Hennessey providing the remaining 1-1.
They will need a greater spread of scorers if they are to breakdown the Drom & Inch defence this year which is backboned by Tipp senior defenders Aoife McGrath and Mairead Eviston. Add into the mix Maureen Ryan, Eimear Cahill and Caoimhe Bourke between the posts and any team who outscores them will have really earned it. Further up the field Mary Bourke, Miriam Campion and Eimear McGrath were key to Drom-Inch’s success last year while Niamh Treacy has been immense in their last three title winning campaigns.
Earlier this year, Drom & Inch added the 2022 senior league title to recent silverware won after two highly entertaining games against Eire Og Annacarty. The second needing extra time before Drom could be finally crowned the winners.
Eire Og Annacarty will be a side that will certainly have serious ambitions of winning a coveted senior crown after brilliant success at underage in recent years. Many of those key players are now well established on the senior a team and as a club they will feel the time is right to break the ceiling.
Orla O’Brien was hugely impressive for the Tipperary minors this year and is a very exciting prospect for the West Tipperary club. Experienced players such as Ciannait Walsh, Jean Kelly, Karen Fox and Siobhan O’Neill will backbone the team while Leah Heffernan and Eibhlis McDonald present plenty of scoring threat up front.
Cashel King Cormacs caused Drom & Inch lots of trouble last year in the county semi-final and boast plenty of players with inter-county experience including Grace Moloney, Sorcha Ryan, Meabh Ellie Ryan, Amy Crosse, and Karin Blair. They are a very young side with plenty of pace including twin sisters Lily and Anna Fahie but 2022 could be a year too soon to capture a senior title which many will feel is on the horizon. However, talks of former Tipperary senior player Philly Fogarty being back in the side could make the difference.
Outside of last year’s top 4, Knockavilla Kickhams, Burgess/Duharra, Silvermines, Thurles Sarsfields and Nenagh Eire Og complete the groupings.
Knockavilla Kickhams were very impressive winners of last year’s Intermediate title and are a team that would be expected to go very well at senior level. However, the loss of star player Caoimhe McCarthy with a cruciate injury has made their task much more difficult. They still have the potential to be a real match for any team in their group with players of the calibre of Ereena Fryday and Eimear Heffernan.
After a solid first year up senior in 2021, Thurles Sarsfields would have been really looking forward to building on that progress this year. However, with Karen Kennedy unavailable for Tipperary all year having had shoulder surgery it’s a massive blow to their ambitions. They will still hope that she will be able to feature for them, but it would be very hard to expect the usual high standards having missed so much hurling and match practice.
Sars did have a good representative of players with the Tipperary juniors this year including Katie and Niamh McCormack, Aoife Butler, and Ciara Cummins. So, they still have plenty of depth in their team and they will be aiming to at least nab a semi-final spot which eluded them last year.
Burgess/Duharra will be very disappointed with their performance last year against Clonoulty/Rossmore which ended their championship. 2022 has seen sisters Caoimhe & Ciardha Maher back in with the Tipperary senior team and hurling very well. As a result, they should have a major impact with the club this year along with the likes of Jenny Grace and Ciara McKeogh.
They find themselves in a tough group and will need to be at their best to pick up wins against any of the opposition. They have great tradition and experience, an excellent keeper in Ciara Holohan and plenty of quality players but it remains to be seen if they have a strong enough defence to stop some of the top teams out there.
Unfortunately for Nenagh Eire Og, they find themselves in a group with three teams that could easily win a county final in Drom & Inch, Clonoulty/Rossmore, and Eire Og Annacarty. As a young team trying to establish themselves in senior ranks and pick up some wins it’s difficult to see them succeeding against any of the opposition.
Rachel Maher and Grace O’Brien both had good years with Tipperary juniors and seniors respectively while they can also call upon players of the calibre of Caroline Browne and Hazel McAuliffe. However, they are lacking enough strength and depth in the panel to really challenge for a top 4 spot at present.
Silvermines are a club that look to be improving year on year as a senior team. They always do well in the league and in last year’s quarter final they more than held their own with Drom & Inch for 45 minutes. They can be somewhat inconsistent in key games but this year they will hope to record a few wins in the group stages to build confidence in the club.
Ciara Ryan, Emer Murphy, Brid Quinn and Louise McLoughlin have all featured on various Tipperary senior teams down through the years and are key to this Silvermines side.
An intriguing and exhilarating senior championship kicks off this Saturday.