The day of destiny is almost here for Myshall as they hit the high road for the colosseum of the GAA.
It’s a day which has been anticipated for a long time and obviously one that a lot of people may have never envisaged.
Others though have been striving towards this day for a long long time.
After success in the 2012 and 2013 All Ireland Junior Finals, Myshall have been building steadily, and its no coincidence that their success parallels with the Carlow Camogie teams success with many of the panel involved on the inter county scene.
Lessons have been learned in recent years.
Defeat to Piltown in 2014 and Tullaroan at the tail end of 2015 in the Leinster Final were cruel on the players at the time.
They didn’t wilt though and came back a more defiant and resilient outfit and that has been echoed throughout their All Ireland campaign.
The Semi Final win over Cappataggle was a prime example of this and obviously the Leinster Championship wins over Glenmore and Shinrone in particular embodied a team that have developed a real teak toughness and refusal to lose.
They have obvious leaders all over the field. Captain Niamh Quirke was a very potent underage forward, but her transition to Full Back has been a real key point for Myshall and with Kate Nolan also in defence you have a real steady anchor.
Speaking to KCLR, Niamh says it’s a great honour for her to leading her club out in Croke Park on Sunday.
“It’s been a long journey and we are absolutely delighted to be here and really looking forward, it’s going to be a great day, and please god we can all play well and get the win.
“We know that they(Eglish) are a young team, they are very fit, they like to run it. There is a good tradition of Camogie up there as well, so they are quite similar to us in that way so we are not taking them for granted or anything, we are going to be up against it when we get there”
We know how good Ciara Mullins is and she has been so consistent for years, and she provides great encouragement and a glowing partnership with Leanne Nolan who was an under 16 last year.
Ciara Quirke has been the obvious source of crucial scores for both club and county, however there are other scoring threats and Ali Ruschitzko’s pace is always a constant source of scoring chances.
So what of their opponents?
Well Eglish may be from a developing county in Tyrone but they too have players of genuine quality.
Ciara Donnelly is the score taker in chief while Niamh McNulty and Maebh McHugh are also capable of taking their chances and in Kelley Anne Fay they have a midfielder who is more than capable of supplying good ball to the forwards and can also dominate that vital middle third.
They are not to be taken lightly, but I don’t think Myshall will do that on the day.
Verdict: Myshall
We Have Full Live Commentary of the game on our Carlow Freqeuncy and online at 1.30pm from Croke Park on Sunday with thanks to Rea’s Department Store at Fairgreen, Bagenalstown, Co.Carlow
