Sars aim to bridge Cork's five-year Munster gap
Sarsfields Orlaith Mullins and Truagh/Clonlara's Niamh Powell in action during the Munster Camogie Senior Club Quarter Final at Clonlara pitch on Saturday. Picture : Eamon Ward
Fresh from their respective semi-finals at the weekend, reigning champions Drom-Inch take on Sarsfields in the AIB Munster Club senior camogie championship final at the Dillon Quirke GAA grounds in Clonoulty Rossmore on Sunday at 2pm.
Drom-Inch and De La Salle of Waterford was settled after extra-time, while Sarsfields recorded a one-point victory over Newcastle West.
It is a fifth successive provincial decider for the Tipperary side, and the ageless Joanne Ryan - the last captain to lift the O’Duffy Cup for the Premier County in 2004 - is still going strong.
Extra-time was all about Eimear McGrath’s goal, which ultimately got her side across the line.
While this is new territory for the Sarsfields contingent, they can harbour realistic hopes following a successful year.
In the Cork final they succeeded against three-in-a-row seeking Seandún, seeing out this game to win comfortably in the end.
Likewise, in their provincial matches, they dug out results, always finishing strong.
In the Newcastle West contest, late points from Kate Fennessy, Hollie Herlihy and Lucy Allen demonstrated there is plenty more left in the tank.
This fixture also represents an opportunity for a Cork club to bridge a Munster gap since Inniscarra were victorious in 2018 when they overcame Inagh/Kilnamona from Clare.
“After we lost last year’s final, our objective this year was to win the county. Once we won it then, we had a bit of momentum, and we said let’s try and get to a Munster final,” Sarsfields manager Tadhg Óg Lynch explains.
“We hadn’t won a game in Munster as a club, so we wanted to right that, and we did against Truagh/Clonlara in the quarter-final. We went a step further beating Newcastle West in the semi-final.
“We are just delighted now to be in the Munster final.
“A couple of years ago when I got involved with Sars and we came up from intermediate, Milford were winning All-Ireland club titles. We were looking on at them wondering if we would ever get that kind of an opportunity.”
And now they have, it is a chance to dream big.
“There isn’t much between any of the teams in Munster. If Newcastle West had won or Truagh/Clonlara came through, they’d be hoping to win,” Lynch adds.
“So yeah, we will be confident. But Drom-Inch are quality opposition. They are the standard bearers in Munster for the last number of years. They will be huge opposition.”
“We played Sarsfields in the 2019 Munster semi-final, it was our first year coming out of the county,” recalls Drom captain Mairead Eviston.
“We played them down in Cork and it was really tight. I think we got the winning score with the last puck of the ball. We haven’t come across them since but I hear they’re a really well rounded team.”
These are busy times for a number of the Sarsfields dual players, including starters on both the Glanmire football and Sarsfields camogie teams Ava Fitzgerald (recovering from injury), Evie Twomey and Ellen Murphy.
Sister club Glanmire are in Ruislip today for the All-Ireland football quarter-final, they will fly home later this evening.
Elsewhere Clanmaurice of Kerry meet Tipperary’s Shannon Rovers in the Munster intermediate final today at the Clare Camogie Grounds, Fr McNamara Park in Bunnow, Ennis at 1pm.
In the junior showdown at the Tipperary Camogie Grounds in the Ragg today at 2pm, Limerick’s Monaleen are pitted against St Joseph’s Doora Barefield of Clare.
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