Littlewoods Ireland Division 1 League

Tipperary Vs Cork

Saturday 15th May @2pm in Pairc Ui Chaoimh Cork

Referee: Liz Dempsey

This Saturday sees the eagerly awaited start of the Littlewoods Ireland national leagues. The build-up however has been overshadowed by the ongoing fixtures saga surrounding the camogie association’s proposal of club championships to follow the intercounty league with the intercounty championship not beginning until the end of October. This format is not in line with the split season format announced by the GAA and LGFA. Many county players have expressed anger with the proposal while the WGPA released a statement saying 84% of players said they will not participate in the Camogie leagues should the current season structure be retained. The camogie association has since decided to conduct a poll with all clubs to their preference of the two fixtures formats. When going to print the results of the poll had yet to be determined. The camogie association has confirmed Saturday’s fixtures, however there still remains some talks of a possible boycott if the split season format is not adopted as preferred by the majority of intercounty players. For now we can only hope for a successful conclusion to the controversy and a return to some on field action this weekend. 

Unfortunately due to Covid the 2020 league finals were cancelled last year which was a huge blow to Tipperary who had qualified for the first time since 2009. The championship then eventually got underway late in the year where we fell short in the All-Ireland semi-final against Galway. There was a sense of renewed optimism in the Senior team’s progress especially after the announcement of 3 All-stars for young goalkeeper Aine Slattery, Moneygal’ls Mary Ryan and Thurles Sarsfield’s Karen Kennedy. This along with the addition of two further experienced coaching personnel in Angelo Walsh and Denis Kelly to the set-up has meant many eyes will be on Tipperary this year to see can they continue the progress in recent years and make the next step. The league campaign will pose serious challenges with two tough games in quick succession Cork away followed by Waterford at home a week later. Cork also bowed out at the semi-final stage of the championship last year when they lost to Kilkenny. They will be without the services of Gemma O’Connor this year who announced her retirement recently but manager Paudie Murray has committed to another year in charge and will look to lay down a marker early in the year at home. 

With only two group games, Tipperary will be eager to progress out of the group to the quarterfinal in order to get more competitive matches. Management will be torn between putting out their strongest team in a bid to get a win over old rivals Cork and also giving key match time to lesser experienced players on the panel to test themselves against some of the best in the country. Corks half back line and midfield is probably their strongest asset with Hannah Looney and Chloe Sigerson both picking up All-Stars last year. Ashling Thompson may also start at midfield on Saturday as she looks to regain the form of a few years ago where she dominated most opposition. For Tipperary there will be lots of competition for places with players such as Clodagh McIntyre, Karin Blair and Shauna Quirke looking to build on their championship game time in 2020. Tipperary will also be glad to have the services of Ereena Fryday and Nicole Walsh who were both ruled out of last year’s All-Ireland semi-final due to injury. A key decision for the management team will be who is picked at 6, 8 and 9. Karen Kennedy picked up an All-Star at centre back but also did lot of her hurling last year including in the semi-final out at midfield. She regularly alternated with Drom-Inch’s Niamh Treacy. It looks as if Bill would prefer to play Karen at midfield where her attacking ability adds hugely to Tipperary’s threat up front. However the question also remains is there a better number 6 in the panel? Tipperary will also need more fire power up front. At present we aren’t scoring enough from play to outscore the Kilkenny, Galways and Corks. While the work rate and attitude of our forwards couldn’t be faulted last year, we lacked free scoring forwards and continue to be very reliant on Cait Devane to keep the scoreboard ticking over. It will be interesting to see if Bill looks to rectify this on Saturday with positional or personnel changes up front.  The result on Saturday won’t make or break either sides’ season but a win for Tipperary will definitely help to kick start their 2021 ambitions and would lay down a very positive marker for the year.