Sarsfields 4-11

Athenry 2-6

By Stephen Glennon at Duggan Park

IT’S official. We all now live in a Sarsfields world – at least when it comes to camogie.

Having won the Senior, Junior ‘A’ and Junior ‘C’ county championships over the last month, Sarsfields added the Minor crown to the trophy cabinet with a comprehensive win over Athenry at Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, on Sunday.

While some may bemoan one club dominating across these four significant grades – particularly the senior championship in recent years – the fact remains that Sarsfields are an ambitious club that continues to raise standards through the roof and anyone expecting them to return to the pack anytime soon will have a long, long, long wait.

Indeed, that is just lazy thinking, and if any club wishes to close the gap on the New Inn/Bullaun standard bearers, then they better get their house in order, examine their coaching structures and personnel, and create a vision as Sarsfields seem to have done.

The club that has come closest to this in 2024 is Athenry, taking Sarsfields to extra-time in a pulsating county senior semi-final, and, indeed, when their two minor outfits met in the group stages of this competition, it finished all square as Athenry fought back from a six-point interval deficit to tie the game 4-17 to 5-14. Athenry’s Anna Jordan scored a hat-trick of goals in the second half of that cracker.

Almost three months on, Sarsfields were a different proposition last Sunday. They looked fitter, shaper and were obviously brimming with confidence after their plethora of adult victories in recent weeks. Understandable given the majority of players were involved in one or more of those adult wins.

By half-time, this confidence had manifested into a 4-4 to 1-3 advantage, the victors a model of efficiency in that opening half scoring eight times from their eight attempts at the posts.

Their senior star Caoimhe Kelly finished with 2-2, 2-1 from play – her goals arriving on 11 and 20 minutes – with Mary Brigid Cosgrove (1-1, goal on 14 minutes) and Hazel Fahy (24th minute) netting their other two majors in this time.

Pictured: Shauna Fahy of Sarsfields in possession against Ailish Molloy of Athenry during Sunday’s Minor A Camogie Final at Duggan Park.  Photo: David Cunniffe.