Magic moments loom on All-Ireland club camogie weekend

13 Dec 2025, 07:00 by Kevin Egan · The42

IT IS A reflection of how we consume sport in the modern era that the question of who is the best team or individual in any given year is rarely enough to capture the public’s imagination anymore.

Who cares about the top dog, when the conversation quickly turns to the GOAT? (That’s the Greatest Of All Time, for those of you who don’t have anyone under 40 in your family!)

The public doesn’t just want a winner, they want a record breaker. It could be the fastest, the youngest, the oldest, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s new and unprecedented, to capture out shortened attention spans.

Or maybe it’s all about the story. That narrative could be an incredible comeback, a triumph against the odds, something to make it special. When it comes to the fight for column inches, “Team wins Championship” doesn’t always cut it. After all, that happened before.

The moments, on the other hand, have never been more eternal. Social media leaves us consuming sport in 20- and 30-second bites; take this year’s All-Ireland senior championship as an example.

Galway’s win over Cork in the All-Ireland senior camogie final was celebrated as an against-the-head win for the Tribeswomen over an overwhelming favourite. In time it will either be perceived as a bump in the road for a Cork side that will go on to dominate the decade from start to finish, or perhaps that defeat could mark the changing of the guard. The result we know, the context in which it will be seen in a generation has yet to be revealed.

Carrie Dolan’s free to win the game, however? Even if you were nowhere near Croke Park and your TV was turned off on that balmy August Sunday, you’ve seen that sensational strike a dozen times on your phone since.

The beauty of this weekend’s four AIB All-Ireland club camogie finals is that there are stories everywhere, adding extra spice and garnish to the meaty question of which quartet of clubs will be crowned national champions.

Stephanie Punch of St Finbarr's celebrates with Ciara Hurley after winning the All-Ireland semi-final. Leah Scholes / INPHOLeah Scholes / INPHO / INPHO

Down by the Lee, and around Togher in particular, you don’t need to be told about the rich history associated with the famous blue jersey of St Finbarr’s. All-Ireland wins have been earned by their men in both codes, including some of the most famous names in the history of Gaelic games.

Next year, the club will celebrate 150 years in existence and the burning desire to etch their name onto the Bill & Agnes Carroll Cup to celebrate that milestone has been cited more than a few times by Barrs’ players in their run to this final.

Team captain Stephanie Punch shot down the idea that they perceived the soil under their feet as “bonus territory,” despite the fact that their win over De La Salle (Waterford) last month earned them a first ever Munster senior title.

Athenry too are unlikely to allow their dreams to be tethered by the weight of general expectation. Breaking free from the shackles of the dominance of a Sarsfields team that had won four of the last six All-Irelands out west would have been seen as a spectacular success for Joe Rabbitte and his players at the start of the year, and the psychological hold that the four-time All-Ireland champions had on the rest of the clubs in Galway cannot be overstated.

Athenry players celebrate after defeating Dicksboro in the All-Ireland semi-final. John McVitty / INPHOJohn McVitty / INPHO / INPHO

Athenry looked sharper than Sars for the majority of the county final but they still chipped over a solitary point in the last 20 minutes as nerves took hold.

Eimear Keane’s pair of goals earlier in the game proved to be enough however, and since then it’s been notable how pragmatic concerns about their lack of experience at this level have dissipated into the ether due to the sense of mission that has taken hold with regard to honouring the memory of Kate Moran; their playing colleague who passed away as a result of a head injury sustained in a league game in 2022.

It’s a remarkable thing to say that an All-Ireland senior final could be about so much more than simply identifying the best club team in the country, and yet it rings true here.

As for the magic moment that will live on, Ciara Golden had one of those for the Barrs when she scored the winning point at the end of extra, extra time in a thrilling semi-final against Loughgiel Shamrocks (Antrim). Perhaps it might be the turn of an Athenry player to create a magic play that will outlive us all this weekend?

In the intermediate final, Ballincollig come into the decider, their current path a redemption arc. County senior finalists in 2013, they ran into the all-conquering Milford side from that era that would go on to win a second straight All-Ireland and finish with three in four seasons, and after sustaining a chastening defeat, they never got back to those heights.

The club eventually decided to regrade to intermediate after all bar a handful of those players stepped away but now those remaining stalwarts, bolstered by some very promising teenagers, will take on a Camross club looking to add another note of celebration to what has been a remarkable year for Laois camogie.

Not unlike St Finbarr’s and Athenry, Camross are a club where the men’s team have been incredibly successful. But as team captain Aoife Collier remarked, it has been half a century since a Camross team played in Croke Park and while the senior men lost out to Glen Rovers in that 1977 final, Collier and her colleagues are in the unusual position of having more Croke Park experience in their Rebel County opponents, so they will be hopeful of scoring a win back for Laois against Cork.

The Junior A and Junior B deciders will take place away from the blinding lights of Jones’ Road but there are plenty of reasons to keep an eye on these games too. Four Roads and Athleague have a history of reaching junior finals but St Dominic’s have worked hard to earn their place on the top of the tree in what is a very competitive Roscommon championship. Their unexpected landslide win over St Peter’s in the semi-final has raised expectations about what they can achieve.