Athenry 1-9

Dicksboro 0-10

SOMETIMES, the early exchanges of a match can lead you up the garden path, and that was certainly the case in Saturday’s compelling All-Ireland Club Senior Camogie semi-final in Kinnegad.

Four points to no score down after just six minutes, facing a strong wind and without injured county player Olwen Rabbitte, Athenry were in all kinds of bother, and you’d hardly have given tuppence for their chances of upsetting the strong pre-match favourites Dicksboro.

But that opening period was out of kilter with the rest of the semi-final, for the newly-crowned Galway champions dug deep into their reserves of resilience to turn the semi-final on its head and eventually pull off a shock win over the 2023 All-Ireland winners.

Athenry’s combination of hard-edge experience – supplied by the remarkable Therese Donohue and Jessica Gill – and youthful exuberance, typified by impressive teenage wing-back Sinead Feeney, proved a winning combination against their highly-regarded Kilkenny rivals.

Stitching it all together was the team’s driving force and captain Dervla Higgins, who underlined her inter-county status with a typically no-holds-barred performance in the number six jersey.

Throw in a vital second-half intervention from full-back Kate Screene and five points from free-taker Sabina Rabbitte, Athenry had influential players all over the field, but the stand-out feature was their collective heart, spirit and work ethic.

It would have been partially excusable if Athenry were disarmed by ending Sarsfields’ long reign in Galway, but when you have former club stalwarts Joe Rabbitte and Pat Higgins involved in the team management, and Gort’s Padraic Linnane and current county player, Padraic Mannion, among the coaching team, there was never any prospect of them being under-motivated for an All-Ireland campaign.

Mind you, team boss Rabbitte and his mentors must have been concerned by the way in which Dicksboro hit the ground running, quickly firing over four unanswered points, three of which were the product of excellent link-up play and accurate shooting. In that context, to only raise six more white flags for the rest of the hour was an unexpected scenario.

Those early Dicksboro scores came from Rachel Dowling, influential midfielder Aoife Prendergast, Amy Clifford and Jenny Clifford as Athenry struggled to get to the pitch of the exchanges at the well-presented Westmeath venue.

Athenry needed to stop the rot and there were signs that they were getting to grips with the occasion when Donohue, Rabbitte and Kerrie O’Driscoll created a goal-scoring opening, only for a crucial tackle by Dicksboro defender Ciara Phelan.

They finally got off the mark with a Rabbitte free in the 12th minute before the critical score of the semi-final arrived. A Higgins clearance found Eimear Keane, and though her point effort struck the left-hand post, Gill was perfectly positioned to send the rebound to the net.

Pictured: Athenry’s Clodagh Burke aiming for the posts against Dicksboro’s Jane Cass during Saturday’s All-Ireland Club Senior Camogie semi-final in Kinnegad. Photos: INPHO/John McVitty.