Linda Mellerick: Ranking the top three camogie clubs in the hunt for top honours

WE'VE seen 11 senior camogie championship games played over the last two weeks. 

Five were played mid-week as the light remains with us but in St Catherine's GAA grounds recently we were fortunate that they had floodlights and turned them on for the last 15 minutes or so. That was a 7.15pm throw in on a lovely evening so I think you’ll just about get away with a 6.30pm start over the coming fortnight. 

A cloudy day, a wet day and that could be a problem. We have 6.45pm throw-ins this coming Monday and Wednesday and should be ok for that. 

We will lose 27 minutes of evening daylight in the first 12 days of September. Sunset is 8.15pm on September 1 and 7.48pm on September 12, so all games will be pushed towards the weekend from there I’d imagine. We lose an average two to three minutes a day for the reminder of the month.

Bringing the All-Ireland finals forward to early August has certainly benefitted and allowed for a round-robin championship, giving clubs more games. You couldn’t fit 29 group games in if the traditional September final date stood. 

And that’s just the amount of senior games. Add in the intermediate round-robin series which holds 15 teams down to junior, and the demand for daylight, evening games and pitches is immense. We’ve said it many times, thank God for Castle Road. 

The pitch there is in amazing condition. 

The county board spent significant money getting it lifted, re-sanded and re-seeded earlier this Spring and it’s like a blanket. The pitch takes an incredible amount of games. 

Floodlights out there in due course will add to its attraction. Of course, every pitch needs its rest too. Castle Road doesn’t get too much of that. 

The facility really is something to be very proud of. Four dressing rooms are now open for teams, rather than two, which allows for back-to-back games without a significant gap between them.

FAVOURITES

Last weekend St Finbarr's were very impressive in their win over St Catherine's. They dominated at half-back and at midfield, Ilana Keegan I thought did a Trojan amount of work. 

Up front was the jewel in the crown. The strength and supply of Keeva McCarthy and Sorcha McCartan and the speed of Nicole Olden, Kate Wall, Ella Wigginton Barrett and Caroline Sugrue was striking. 

Add in the fact that Orlaith Cahalane has to come back into the picture there and it’ll take some defence to stop them. Certainly, they were more entertaining to watch than last season.

Seandún and Sarsfields are the other two favourites for the title if I were to pick my top three.

I haven’t seen Sars yet as we spread the coverage of games to get in as many as we can. Hope to see them in the coming week. Seandún were impressive against Carbery, but Carbery weren’t as strong as their performance against Avondhu hinted at. 

Seandún, another side with a strong forward division will need some work defensively. Ballinascarthy’s Moira Barrett had a fine game scoring seven of Carbery’s total of 10.

Seandún have a few players to come back in, namely the injured Sinead Mills and Katrina Mackey with Hayley Ryan also to return. All forwards, so Seandún’s management will need to do some re-jigging. 

Most clubs have only one or two games played so there’s still a bit to go. 

Group A is a tough one. St Finbarrs will top it, with the Glen, Killeagh, Fr O’Neills and St Catherine's battling for second place. After two losses at the time of writing, and assuming favourites the Glen won their game on Friday night, O’Neills won't make it. 

The remaining three still have to play each other so second place is wide open there still. 

Sarsfields will top Group B with Courcey Rovers probably second, a victory over Cloughduv needed to secure that as they won’t be found wanting either. That clash between the two down for September 16. 

Group C, Inniscarra to top and let’s fancy Éire Óg as second placed, their game with Ballygarvan next Wednesday is an important one however in order to secure that. Group D, Seandún will emerge.

Some strong victories to date, some heavy defeats as is typical of group games where you have some of the top teams paired with some of the weaker ones.