Family honour on the line as junior decider approaches

RESPECTIVE team managers Michael Maher and Noel Lucey have a personal interest in the outcome of tomorrow’s All-Ireland junior camogie final between Clare and Dublin in Croke Park (1pm).

Maher, from Kilmaley, has one daughter in the squad while Lucey, who describes himself as “a former Éire Óg man” from mid-Cork, has two daughters involved - one of whom is a hockey international.

The eldest is Ciara, who plays with Ballyboden/St Endas and UCD, while Emer, 17, is the youngest member of the Dublin panel.

When she’s not playing camogie she is on the Irish hockey team and featured in this year’s European championships in Poland.

“When she came back we cut up the hockey stick and gave her the two hurleys back,’’ her father joked. “She has been ‘cutting’ the sliotars since!’’ Dublin, once a powerful force in camogie, decided a few years ago to re-grade to junior. Lucey recognises that some supporters regarded it as a ‘step down’, but he viewed it “as a step sideways”.

“We are thrilled in to be in the final. We were being hammered for years by the likes of Cork, Tipperary and Kilkenny. It didn’t do any good for morale and progress wasn’t being made. We have a lot of young players coming on from the Leinster U18 championship-winning team of 2003. Our youngest is 17 and the oldest is 26. We have a nice balance in the squad.”

According to Michael Maher, camogie in Clare is “reasonably strong”, even if there are no more than six teams competing at senior level.

“The pool of players would be small, it’s at school level that it’s really strong’’, he commented.

While Clare have the benefit of having contested the 2003 final (which they lost in a replay), he rates Dublin highly. “It will be a formidable task for our team. We are up against it, but we have a good team and a lot of talent, I feel.”

CLARE: R Lynch; J Scanlan, D Corcoran, C McMahon; E Keating, C Halley, E Minogue; M McMahon, D Murphy (Captain); L Linnane, Á O’Brien, F Lafferty; C McMahon, C O’Loughlin, C Commane.

DUBLIN: E Butler; S Hanks, A McCluskey, A Cullen; A Fitzpatrick, S Cunnane, C Power; C Lucey, Á Fanning; E Brannigan, G McCluskey, C Durkan; J Donnelly, L O’Hara, E Lucey.

Referee: Una Kearney (Armagh).