Final spots up for grabs in the Limerick Intermediate Camogie Championship

In the Limerick Intermediate Camogie Championship both semi final clashes will be played this Sunday with Na Piarsaigh facing Bruff whilst Crecora and Murroe Boher also battle it out for a place in the final. Na Piarsaigh and Crecora both have home advantage in the semi finals with the games throwing in at 12pm.

Crecora v Murroe Boher

Sunday 24 September in Crecora @12pm

Crecora enter the game as slight favourites having lost the last two finals by a point each time. They already have the Intermediate League title under their belt this year so they will enter the game as slight favourites. However, in the 2015 final they were beaten by this Sunday’s opponents Murroe so this has the makings of a classsic.

Crecora manager Eddie Corkery spoke to us at Sporting Limerick ahead of the highly anticipated clash.

“Preparations have been going well for the last five or six weeks since the championship started. Kind of scrappy up until then with exams, holidays and work.. But since the first round win over Murroe Boher, things have picked up.”

“We’ve suffered a lot of pain, what might have been. So we’ve done the best we can to try and correct what we think might have gone wrong…The four teams left, there’s not a whole lot between them.”

As mentioned above, Murroe were champions of the competition in 2015 but were not promoted as the grades were restructured. Last year they did not threaten to be promoted but have begun to rebuild as they introduce an influx of young players. Manager Alan Barry is cautious in his optimism but knows his young squad have what it takes.

“We fear nobody is the right way of approaching it. Certainly, from what we played this year, there was only one game where we received a bit of a beating and that was when we didn’t have a full squad… It’s probably a year or two early for us.”

“(Between school and other sports) It’s a huge balancing act out here. Or team, would have a had a very strong underage over the last few years and they’ve come through now… We’re depending on 16 year-olds. We’ve four 16 year-olds on the team, the rest of the girls would all be first or second year in college. One girl over the age of 28.”

“I’d tell them we’ve nothing fear, I’d tell them we’ve nothing to lose and I would tell them that we’re expecting to win… They’re good enough to win and they can win.”

Na Piarsaigh v Bruff

Sunday September 24 in Caherdavin @12pm

Na Piarsaigh head into the game as slight favourites not only for the game but the competition in general. The resurgent Caherdavin side have been imressive throughout and beat last years finalists Crecora in the round robin stage and will be confident of advancing with hie advantage.

Na Piarsaigh manager Dave O’Neil spoke to us ahead of the game,

“Training is going well. Everything is fine and over the past few weeks training number have been very good.”

“There was only a point between us in the first game that went to Bruff. We’re both aware that it’s a 50/50 game and whoever gets that edge on the day will come out on top.”

However Bruff are an experienced side and will be looking to bounce back straight to the senior ranks after eing relegated last year. Bruff have a strong core of county players and will not fear Na Piarsaigh. Their manager Matt McKeogh gave us his thoughts ahead of the match.

“Training has been going very well. Girls are going very well. We have a young enough team. We brought in a lot of U16s this year. It has gone well, but we’re still a work in progress… They have stepped up to the plate so far but Sunday is another huge ask for them again.”

“Just looking at Intermediate, there’s just a puck of the ball between the top four teams and it’s who gets the breaks on the day really.”

“They’re (Na Piarsaigh) similar to ourselves. They’re fairly young but tough. We played them in the first round and beat them by a point… They’ve improved hugely since then and if we are to beat them we are going to have to improve on the day as well.”