Green and Red have shot at camogie crown

Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship Final 

Saturday, July 11 

2pm at Glennon Bros. Pearse Park, Longford 

Mayo v Monaghan 

REF: Ronan Carroll 

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Sixty minutes separate the Mayo senior camogie team from a league and championship double in their first year back in action, as they get set to face Monaghan in the All-Ireland Junior Championship final this Saturday.

After shipping heavy defeats in the 2024 league and championship, Mayo did not field last year but have bounced back in style this year, having already claimed the Division 3B League title by defeating next Saturday’s opponents in the decider. The Farney girls are now out for revenge, however, Mayo also won the Nancy Murray Cup in and Division 4 league title in 2021 after reforming, so the Green and Red have history when it comes to an immediate bounce after being in the wilderness.

“It means an awful lot to the small community we have,” Mayo joint-manager Des Joyce told the Western People. “We really want to promote camogie in the county. We want to see more girls playing it. My co-manager, Peter Dooley, he's done a huge amount this year. He's also the chairman of the county board. There's a committed bunch of people in that county board who do an awful lot behind the scenes and a lot of credit is due to them for that.

“I think three of the four counties didn't have teams this time last year, so it's a credit to Monaghan, it's a credit to Donegal, it's a credit to the standard of camogie that they have brought into this competition.

“We've all put our shoulders to the wheel this year and I think the fruits of it are shown now.” 

Defeats to Louth and Donegal were disappointing in Mayo’s first two championships games but, with the return of key players from injury, they defeated Monaghan in the final group game before defeating Louth on the same day the Mayo senior footballers toppled Cork in their All-Ireland quarter-final.

“[It] was a very satisfying day for us, I think a lot of things went right,” admitted Des Joyce. “A lot of players were back; we had a lot of players injured but a lot of them got fit in the week or two before that. We’d girls travelling and stuff like that, so we had a really strong squad to pick from. That itself was a difficult piece of work,” added Joyce, who credited the discipline of his side in keeping Louth to just a goal and five points for the entire semi-final, which was a sharp contrast to their home game against the Wee County where they conceded 4-8.

“That goal they got just before half-time was probably against the run of play really. They hadn't had many runs into our half at all,” said Joyce.

“It was a very strong performance all the way by the team and a lot of things went right. We probably knew from Tooreen that when they got the wind in the second-half, they were very, very dangerous.

“We'd have liked to have been further ahead. The goal was a bit of a sucker punch, but it just kind of meant at half-time that we would really reinforce the message about closing them down and discipline.” 

Joyce added: “We played them up in Louth first game of the season (league) and I was really impressed with them, and I thought that probably they would have brought more but I think we probably stopped that happening, and that was very satisfying.” 

As well as their defensive solidarity, Mayo were able to call upon the likes of Hannah Tener and Niamh and Laoise Greally off the bench. The Greallys were two of nine different scorers on the day, and Joyce is delighted to have options to call on that were not available to him early on the championship.

“Picking a team from the players we had there the last day wasn't simple and it's great to have that squad there. There's a lot of talent in that squad. There's nothing between some of the girls on the bench and some of the girls on the field, and that's a great thing to be able to say, you know, so we're very happy with that.” 

Those options will be needed against a team that Mayo will be meeting for the fourth time this year. Mayo have won all three meetings, including a comprehensive 2-12 to 1-6 win in the league final, but Joyce said his team is taking nothing for granted.

“The one thing I'll say about Monaghan is they're a really, really good side. We probably got a little bit of luck a few times when we were playing them.

“In Castlebar a couple of weeks ago they were really, really good, and we just made a few changes in the second-half that probably give us a little bit of a rub of the green.

“We'll be well aware of what they bring. They bring a lot of passion and they bring a lot of energy. They're a very proud county, they're very proud of their camogie up there.

“There'll be no complacency when we're playing Monaghan. They’ll really want to get one over on us now.”