Ward almost gets fully immersed in quest for glory

FULLY IMMERSED: AIB ambassador, camogie star, Laura Ward of Sarsfields, Galway, pictured ahead of this weekend's AIB Camogie All-Ireland Senior Club Championship final. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

LAURA Ward didn’t quite go ‘full Wim Hof’ in her effort to fix a calf injury before Sunday's AIB All-Ireland club camogie final but the pain she’s put her body through in the last fortnight shows just how far players will go nowadays to make a big game. 

The trainee primary teacher is currently subbing in neighbouring Mullagh and, with no cryotherapy chamber or ice baths locally, she opted for cold-water therapy in the next best thing – standing in Loughrea Lake for 10 minutes every day. 

“It was absolutely Baltic. I was in there every evening after school and I think I got more abuse about not going in fully,” she laughs. 

The youngest of six children, Ward has been even more immersed in camogie her whole life. She started out as a wide-eyed water carrier for the Galway seniors whom her dad Tony managed to All-Ireland glory in 2013 before wearing the maroon and white herself. 

Her brother Kevin is a Sarsfields selector, her sister Ciara is the club secretary. Hurling is in her DNA. 

Having proven herself the embodiment of the club competition’s #TheToughest tagline she has declared herself fully fit to face first-time finalists Dicksboro (Kilkenny) in Croke Park on Sunday (5.15, live on RTÉ 2). 

The calf was injured in warm-up last day out and the heroic way she got through that semi-final victory over Sarsfields’ Munster namesakes underlined her totemic role as their best individual marker. It also summed up the mission the reigning All-Ireland champions are on. They are the Ballygunner of the women’s game. 

This is their seventh final in eight years and, after starting by losing two to Slaughtneil, they’re on a roll, now chasing three in-a-row and their fourth title. Despite always coming in cold at the semi-final stage (six weeks after the Galway final this year) they get the job done. 

Their midfield dynamo and last year’s AIB Club Player of the Year Niamh McGrath is pregnant this time yet travels down from Dublin for every training session, still their general. 

Her on-pitch loss has been balanced by the return of one of her siblings. Orlaith McGrath’s torn ACL last season gave her time to also get corrective surgery on a repetitive shoulder problem. She is absolutely flying and a real pivot in their lethal attack which also features her sister Siobhan, one of the game’s greatest snipers. 

Galway senior star Sarah Spellman partners Clodagh McGrath in midfield but Sarsfields are not just the McGraths. Klara Donohue and Shannon Corcoran can also make waves upfront and their defence is stacked. 

Maria Cooney, Tara Kenny, Reitseal Kelly and goalkeeper Laura Glynn are usually tigerish and only conceded 1-6 (1-2 from play) to some really talented forwards in their semi-final. 

The Leinster champions actually beat them in a challenge game back in August and really franked that form by taking out the reigning Leinster (St Vincent’s) and Ulster (Loughiel) champions to get here, with Asha McHardy their two-goal hero last time out. 

Aoife Prendergast and Ciara Phelan lead a really well balanced Dicksboro side where Jane Cass and Katie Byrne do the big marking jobs defensively. 

Lucinda Gahan was only back from having a baby when she got a compound fracture of her hand but her and Rose Kelly’s experience off the bench proved vital last time out. 

But they have nothing like Sarsfields’ experience in hurling’s great cathedral, and this is the first time they’ve met a team who should mirror their own admirable refusal to quit. 

When Oulart’ beat Sarfields three years ago they conceded two goals but scored four. 

It’s hard to see Dicksboro matching that.