PREVIEW: Tipperary senior camogie team get All-Ireland campaign underway this Saturday

Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship - Round 1

Tipperary V Dublin in The Ragg @ 5pm

It’s a huge weekend for Tipperary Camogie with both the Junior and Senior team in action this Saturday in their opening rounds of the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Championship.

Recent wins for both teams in their respective Munster Finals has given the county a huge lift and all are hoping we can continue our winning ways when we take on Wicklow in the Junior at 2.30pm and Dublin in the Senior at 5pm in the County Camogie Grounds the Ragg.

Tipperary senior team begin their All-Ireland Campaign on the back of a recent Munster Final win against Clare. It was the first piece of silverware the senior team has won since last winning the Munster final in 2010.

Denis Kelly’s side were bitterly disappointed not to reach the league final this year but were grouped to beat a fancied Waterford team in the Munster semi-final before a convincing win over Clare a week later.

Eimear Heffernan struck a brilliant goal in both games while Cait Devane, Grace O’Brien, Caoimhe Maher and Roisin Howard all look to be in flying form.

Eimear McGrath has also been notching up the scores from play and frees and is likely to start on Saturday in the half forward line.

Two brilliant performances at centre back has earned Karen Kennedy a recent player of the month nomination while also picking up player of the match in the final. At full back Clodagh Quirke has been a rock while Caoimhe Bourke has been very effective between the posts.

On Saturday Dublin will be looking to spoil the current positive mood in the camp. Last year when the sides met in the group stages Tipperary needed a last minute free from Cait Devane to draw the game.

In the league Tipperary were 2-13 to 1-6 point winners over Dublin in Parnell Park. However Dublin are expected to pose a bigger threat to Tipperary this weekend judging by their recent form in their Leinster campaign.

A one point win over Wexford saw Gerry McQuaids side reach the final against Kilkenny where they matched their opponents all the way to the end.

A late scrappy goal two minutes from fulltime put daylight between the sides with Kilkenny claiming a 1-14 to 13 point victory. Aishling Maher was their chief scorer in the final with six points in total, five from frees. While Aisling O’Neill had four points from play.

Tipperary and Dublin championship games have always been very close and keenly contested. With both sides looking to be in good form a cracking game is expected as both teams look to get off to a winning start.

It will be interesting to see if Denis Kelly starts with the same 15 that beat Clare in the final. There is certainly lots of competition for places with last year starters Mairead Eviston and Mary Ryan pushing for a starting position in defence while Ciardha Maher has also returned to full fitness after a concussion.

Further up the field Caoimhe McCarthy, Niamh Treacy and Ereena Fryday all made an impact off the bench and are likely to cause selection headaches for the management.