Joint-skipper Walsh lauds panel strength

By Shane Brophy

If Tipperary are successful on Sunday, joint-captains Claire Stakelum and Ciannait Walsh will be the first premier county players to go up the steps of the Hogan stand to lift a trophy since Joanne Ryan raised the O’Duffy Cup aloft following Tipp’s last senior success in 2004.

It would be a proud moment for them, with Ciannait Walsh explaining the ambition was very much within reach at the start of the year.

“Camogie in Tipperary has been going strongly over the last few years,” she began.

“Only two years ago we were relegated from intermediate, so we knew it was well within our reach.

“I wasn’t part of the junior team last year, but they managed to stay in the intermediate league which was great so when you are competing at that level in the league you know you are up there with the best junior teams.

“There is a great panel of girls this year with plenty of competition for places so knew getting to an All-Ireland Final was in our reach.”

“We have found our feet more this year which has helped. We have gotten to know each other very well as players and that has really helped.”

There is a lovely balance of experience and youth in this 27-player panel, with some like Walsh having come down from the senior squad while the likes of Ellen Cunneen are aiming to use this as a platform to go onto senior level in the coming years.

“That is the main purpose for a county to have a second team is to see what young talent is there,” Walsh feels.

“When you come out of minor it is very hard to get straight in on the senior panel, there are not many girls that do it. For the rest, if they can get one or two years at junior or intermediate it is a good stepping-stone.

“You can always be sure that the senior manager is watching and seeing what girls are coming up.”

It will be a proud day for Walsh’s club Eire Og Annacarty/Donohill (although Ciannait is a native of Golden) as they have no fewer than four players on the panel, including star forward Jean Kelly who has scored ten goals on route to the final.

“She has had a fantastic season,” added the joint-skipper.

“She has been our top scoring forward but at the same time some of the scores she gets, she wouldn’t have gotten them without passes from other girls. Her first goal against Roscommon came from a Clodagh Horgan pass.

“While it might look on paper that we rely on Jean but if there aren’t girls around her giving her the ball, she wouldn’t have those scores. I am not taking anything away from Jean who is a brilliant finisher.”