Mullagh (Galway) v Milford (Cork)
Milford are the apparently unstoppable queens of club camogie right now, just two games short of completing a rare three-in-a-row.
Kilkenny’s St Paul’s have managed it twice, while Wexford giants, Buffers Alley extended the run to four. Pearses (Galway) and St Lachtain’s (Kilkenny) are the only other clubs to achieve the landmark.
There have been some retirements since the beginning of the odyssey, while Deirdre Reilly’s absence after a hip operation will be keenly felt.
Yet, having previously been accused of lacking bottle on the big occasion, Milford have shown their mettle repeatedly since finally making the breakthrough in Cork in 2012. There have been many close shaves in the intervening period but even when they haven’t been at their best, they have prevailed.
The Cork side, who have O’Duffy Cup winners Ashling Thompson, Anna Geary and Elaine O’Riordan amongst their ranks, won last year’s All-Ireland by a point and indeed, only had the minimum to spare when overcoming Douglas in the county quarter-final last year.
They were 15-point winners over Inniscarra in the county final though and with the Watson siblings (Emer, Áine and Maria) and Marie O’Neill sharp up front, beat Granagh-Ballingarry (Limerick) by 0-14 to 0-6 in the Munster final.
Mullagh know all about upsetting the apple cart though. They, in fact, can lay claim to preventing Glen Rovers from emulating Buffers Alley’s four-in-a-row. The Glen were champions when Mullagh beat them by a point in the 1991 semi-final, and they returned to the summit for the next two campaigns.
For their part Mullagh made it count and Emer Hardiman scored a hat-trick of goals in the final against Eglish to annex the title 24 years ago.
Rachel Monaghan and Sinead Cahalan are two of their best known players and given the competitiveness of the Galway championship – Ardrahan failed by just the minimum to Milford in last year’s decider, while Killimor were the victims two years ago in the decider, having been champions themselves in 2011 – it is evident that Mullagh are serious challengers.
Indeed, the manner in which they accounted for Ardrahan (4-6 to 1-8) to claim their first county senior title in 21 years was eye-catching indeed. This could be very close.
An unplayable pitch in Castleblayney has led to the postponement of the Oulart-The-Ballagh and Loughgiel Shamrock's semi
The fixture will be re-scheduled for Sunday 8 February with the venue and throw-in time to be confirmed in the coming days.
