Stephanie: We are fully focused on today's game and nothing else

Today, Stephanie Punch will create her own little bit of history as she leads out St Finbarr’s for their Munster senior camogie championship clash with Newcastle West.

It will be the first Munster camogie championship game to be held at the ground since 2006 as the Barrs hope to reach the final in a couple of weeks.

Last year, they lost out in the quarter-final, but this year they went straight into the semi, and they will be aiming to go one better today, throw-in 1pm.

Stephanie said they are looking forward to the challenge and hope that a large home crowd will get them across the line.

“We’ve had a couple of weeks now to prepare, and I suppose it’s only in the last week or so the buzz has kind of built up,” said Stephanie.

“We were down in the local girls’ school on Wednesday with the Cork championship cup, as they held a blue day for us to show their support, and it was great to see all the girls dressed in blue to cheer us on. That gave us another lift, and hosting the game at our own pitch is a special occasion for the club. We’re taking it all in, but, really, our focus is on the game rather than the occasion.”

It has been a good year for the Barrs, with the camogie side retaining their senior title and their senior footballers recently winning their county championship.

“I suppose the club has been successful, between ourselves, the footballers, the hurlers; our ladies’ footballers are coming up as well. I think success breeds success, and there was great excitement after we won the county and more excitement after the lads won.

“We’re just hoping the ball keeps rolling and everyone comes out and supports us today. We’ll be hoping all our street leagues come, all the club members, and the local community to support us.”

Heading out into Munster, it can be difficult to know much about your opponents.

“It was kind of hard to do any research on them. I know Brian (O’Sullivan, team manager), and the lads gathered as much as they could. So, we’re not completely unprepared, but it will be a huge challenge for us.

“Last year, they won the Cork championship for the first time since 2006, and maybe Munster wasn’t a priority, but Stephanie said they are very much focused on this championship.

“Going into last year and probably every year for the last couple of years, it’s been our focus to win the county championship, as it was 18 years since we had won it. We had a great week of celebrating, and we had to play a quarter-final, so there probably wasn’t a lot of time to prepare for the game.

“We did prepare well, but when we look back on it, you know, probably a few things didn’t go our way. But we are very much focused on today, and, hopefully, we will come out on the right side of the result.”