Sarsfields and Clonoulty for tie-breaker Senior Camogie decider

CAMOGIE: FBD Insurance Tipperary Senior Championship Final Preview

By Joe Scully

CLONOULTY/ROSSMORE v THURLES SARSFIELDS

FBD Semple Stadium

Saturday, 17th October

Throw-in @ 3.30pm

For the third year-in-a-row, Thurles Sarsfields and Clonoulty/Rossmore will go head-to-head in the County Senior Camogie Championship final this Saturday, once again at FBD Semple Stadium as it was last year.

With one win each, both sides are looking for a second ever senior title, with their maiden successes having come in the last two years against each other, with Clonoulty having beaten Thurles in 2024 and then Sarsfields gaining revenge twelve months later.

For the West Tipp outfit, they will be appearing in their eighth final-in-a-row, a remarkable achievement, albeit only winning one of the previous seven, a record they will be looking to better on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Thurles are appearing in only their third final, all in the last three years and going for back-to-back titles, having suffered both the pain of defeat and joy of victory, and will be hungry for more success.

Both teams come into the final with one defeat to their name so far, both in their final group game having already secured qualification for the knockout stages and straight for the semi-finals where they both came through rather comfortably last Saturday.

If the 2024 champions are to regain the O’Dowd Cup, they will have to come up with a way to put the breaks on a Sarsfields attack that, when they get going, can be devastating with a goal threat coming from all six forwards and Karen Kennedy in midfield.

The Clonoulty fullback line of Moira Kinane, Clodagh Quirke and Eimear Loughman, who all had superb games in the semi-final, will need to be at their very best to contain a dangerous Thurles inside line of Laura Loughnane, Caoimhe Stakelum and Lucy Purcell.

Another area that could be key is discipline, as both teams have the two best free-takers in the county in Caoimhe Stakelum and Cait Devane, with both capable of finding the target from all distances.

The previous two finals have seen six-point and four-point winning margins but one excepts this Saturday’s encounter to be a lot tighter, where a puck of the ball could be all that separates the sided come the full-time whistle.

There is no shortage of quality in both squads with plenty of youth and experience in abundance. While both clubs will have plenty of respect for the other, there will certainly be no love loss between them either so expect plenty of hard hits and intensity with all on the line.

There is very little that separates the sides and it is a very hard game to call but if the Thurles Sarsfields forward line clicks like they are capable of they just might have too much for Clonoulty/Rossmore.

One thing is for certain, it promises to be a highly entertaining encounter with plenty of fireworks so make sure you get down to Tom Semple’s field on Saturday afternoon for the latest instalment between these two rivals.