Tipp Seniors begin League title defence

CAMOGIE: Very Ireland National League Preview

By Joe Scully

TIPPERARY v DUBLIN

Camogie Grounds, The Ragg

Saturday, 22nd February

Throw-in @ 2.00pm

Referee: Ray Kelly (Kildare)

Tipperary begin the defence of the National Camogie League Division 1 title with a home tie against Dublin this Saturday afternoon.

It’s a tricky tie for the Premier Ladies, against a Dublin side who seem to be on the up, following victory in Division 1B last year and reaching the All-Ireland semi-final.

This added to the fact that Tipperary will be without the likes of Karen Kennedy and Karin Blair who will miss the early part of the league, as well as last year’s top-scorer Eimear McGrath who is likely to miss the whole campaign with a cruciate knee injury picked up during the club championship with Drom & Inch, makes their task that little bit harder.

Despite this, manager Denis Kelly is hopeful of another good league campaign, and is hopeful of making another league final, while aware that it will be a difficult ask for his side.

“We have been training well,” said the Toomevara native.

“There are a good few new faces on the panel. We have had the disruption of the Ashbourne Cup with seven or eight players involved with that, so were only really now getting our full panel together.

“We still have a few players to come back from niggles and injuries, so we won’t be full strength starting out. We will be missing Karen (Kennedy) and Karin (Blair) for the early part of the league, and with Eimear (McGrath) a long-term absentee it makes it tough for us.

“We know we are going to be up against it in this year’s league, but it’s a great chance to blood new players and see are they up to scratch ahead of the championship.”

Some of the new players that could feature include members of last year’s All-Ireland winning Minor and Premier Junior sides, with several players from each added to the panel.

“Yeah, we have four or five from last year’s minors, that have come up, and they will be a huge boost of energy to the panel,” he added.

“We have three or four from the juniors, and they have been training really well, so it’s a mix of both and it’s very good to have that kind of talent coming through. It’s a big step-up, for all of them so hopefully they can meet the challenge down the road.”

Kelly knows the loss of All-Star forward Eimear McGrath will be felt throughout the year but has said the Drom & Inch player is still involved with the panel.

“Eimear is a huge loss, because she’s been getting stronger year on year,” Kelly added.

“She’s a fabulous free-taker, as well as the contribution she makes from play. She had surgery in November, so it’s unlikely she will play much of a part this year, but she’s still involved around the camp and encouraging the girls, and hopefully she will be back sooner rather than later. It also means that someone else now needs to step up into the breach.”

With only the top two teams in the division qualifying for the league final, it will be a tough ask for the champions to retain their crown they won against Galway at Croke Park, and they will need to get off to a good start against a strong Dublin side who will be out to lay down a marker for the year.

Added to the fact Tipp will be down a few regulars for the start of the campaign, and will have little room for error, the league could well be prioritised to blood new players and develop more depth within his panel before the championship starts in May, and Denis Kelly knows Dublin will be a tough opening challenge for his side.

“Dublin will be tough. They were in the last four last year and they will be a tough assignment starting off, but as I said we will be blooding a few new players and will be hoping to give a good account of ourselves on Saturday and then against Kilkenny a week later.”

Tipperary Senior Camogie team v Dublin