Clodagh Tynan confident Laois can hold their own at intermediate camogie

Michael Bolton

Laois camogie captain Clodagh Tynan is confident Laois will be able to hold their own in the intermediate championship this season.

After some difficult years, they were crowned junior All-Ireland camogie champions when they defeated Armagh in the final in Croke Park last August.

With the Centra National League underway this weekend, Laois take on All-Ireland intermediate finalists Kerry in their opening game, as Tynan is keen to see how they compete against the best.

"It was great to right the wrongs of the year before.

"We had two rough years previous when we got relegated. Going into it, we said we don't want to be in junior for 10 years; we need to get back up.

"We gained a lot of experience from the first year. Even the whole day of heading up to Croke Park is mental, it is such a strict schedule, random people in your dressing room keeping you to time slots."

Laois now feel they are back where they belong, in what will be a very competitive league and championship.

Derry, Carlow, Meath, Westmeath, and Kerry will all be competing with Laois in Division 2A. While Meath, Westmeath, and Carlow are in Laois' group for the championship.

Another All-Ireland would be the dream, but Tynan is hopeful Laois can have a competitive season.

"Personally, I would love to see us hold our own at intermediate, not have us fight relegation straight away or any of that.

"The league will tell us fairly quickly where exactly we are at and what we need to work on. The skill set is there; we just need to get everything going quicker.

"There has been a lot of change. We were intermediate for eight years and dropped down for two years, and now we are back again. It just shows how competitive it is that you can drop up and down; every year is different.

"It is great that there is pressure being kept on everyone all the time."

Another added layer to camogie this year is new rules brought in.

Among them is sideline pucks being taken from a player's hand if she is inside her own 45.

There will be increasing penalties for dissent from players and team officials, while a player who during a game, removes their helmet or has had it removed by a player/official from the player's own team shall be presumed to be potentially injured and shall be instructed by the referee to leave the field of play.

For Tynan, she is happy the rules will see a quicker game, but is hoping for consistency from officials.

"I definitely think the physicality is a great thing coming into the game. The struggle with most rules is the consistency; with refs, it is hard to know where you draw the line and where you let it go.

"It will be interesting to see the sidelines out of your hand, it could really quicken up the game."