St Finbarr's begin Munster camogie campaign with home tie

On Saturday, St Finbarr’s camogie senior side will be hoping to continue the good run of form for the club.

They take on Newcastle West, Limerick, in the semi-final of the Munster championship, throw-in 1pm at Togher.

They will be hoping a big home support will help them get over the line against a side that won’t fear travelling to Cork.

They won’t be taking their opponents lightly and such is the strength of camogie in Newcastle West they have two sides in action in the Munster championship in the coming weeks.

But the Barrs have plenty of experienced players in their side and with more than eight present or former Cork senior players in their ranks they can be confident in their own ability to advance to the final.

When you have the likes of Sorcha McCartan, Stephanie Punch, the Cahalane sisters (Meabh, Orlaith, Kate and Grainne), Aoife O’Neill and Kate Wall to call on then they will be a challenge for any club side in the country.

Manager Brian O’Sullivan said they are looking forward to tomorrow but are aware of how tough an opponent they are facing.

“We had a bit of a break since we won the county final. So training is going well, to have home advantage is great so we are looking forward to it now,” said Brian.

We’re expecting a tough encounter with Newcastle West, they had a good win over Inagh-Kilnamona a week or so ago in tough conditions away from home.

“They're no strangers to travelling so I don't believe they will have much fear of coming to Cork to play us. We’re looking forward to it really more than anything and kind of just focusing on ourselves really in the build-up to tomorrow.

“I saw them against Inagh-Kilnamona, but other than that, we did a small bit of research and we don’t know a huge amount about them really.

“But we have tried to concentrate on ourselves mainly to be honest, just to try and get ourselves right. We haven't come across them before. We played a couple of teams from Tipp and Clare over the years, so it’s a bit going into the unknown, to be honest.

“But I think if we focus on ourselves and just prepare as best as we can to get ourselves right, then we'll be in with a shout.” 

Last year winning the county after 18 years was huge for the Barrs and having to play a Munster quarter-final relatively soon afterwards wasn’t easy for them. Brian said the longer break this year has definitely helped with their preparations for tomorrow.

“Last year winning the county was massive for the team and for the club. I'd like to feel we prepared ourselves as best as possible for Munster, but I suppose there was a bit of the unknown.

“We haven't been there in quite a while, so I suppose this year we kind of know what's what, what's ahead of us to an extent.

“We had a bit more time between our country final and the game cause because we've gone straight to the semi-final. So preparations we feel have gone well enough. So yeah, we are fully focused on Newcastle West and we'll see how it goes.”