Tipp Camogie Final Preview: Drom and Clonoulty to do battle in Saturday's decider

Holders Drom-Inch will be seeking to do back-to-back county senior camogie championships for the first time at the County Camogie Grounds, The Ragg on Saturday afternoon next when they take on Clonoulty in an eagerly awaited clash.

The fact that Drom had an eight point cushion over their rivals in the first round of the championship will matter little when the sides take to the field on Saturday – throw-in is at 3:30pm – but the Drom girls will take much confidence into the game having ended the great run of Burgess Duharra in the 2019 final, and then gone on to secure their place in their second decider in succession.

Of course Drom had lost the Munster Final last year to Scariff of Clare and they bounced back again to return to the county final - the experience of last season has certainly stood to them and they have grown and matured as a team as evidenced by their semi-final victory over Cashel in the county semi-final.

By contrast, Clonoulty are seeking their first final win, but they too have come on in leaps and bounds since their appearance in the '18 final when they fell to the exceptional, battle-hardened side which Burgess Duharra had developed. A first county senior championship eludes Clonoulty at this stage, but there is a real feeling in camogie circles that if they can get their A game out on the pitch in Saturday, history could well be in the making.

Beating Burgess Duharra in the semi-final was a big scalp for them and they too will come into the decider brimming with confidence. Ciaran Hammersley and his management team have the side in flying form and they will be attempting to take particular care of Drom sharp shooter Eimear McGrath who bagged three goals when the sides last met, earlier in the campaign – Drom won that game by 3-12 to 0-13, so it very easy to see the role played by the green flags in the match.

Niamh Treacy will be a key player for Drom on Saturday and the possibility of seeing Aoife McGrath on Cait Devane; or Clodagh Quirke possibly picking up Joanne Ryan; or Emer Loughman on Eimear McGrath or Miriam Campion is certainly enough to whet the appetite ahead of the big game.

There are may talking points ahead of the match, and without doubt there will be many talking points afterwards, no matter which direction the silverware will be heading.

Cait Devane was in magnificent form in the semi-final and the clip of her exchanging a broken hurley mid-play with her brother John has gone viral on social media. She will be hoping that Clonoulty celebrating an historic success will be going viral on Saturday evening again, but she also knows that big games will be required from her colleagues in the attack such as Eimear Bourke and Casey Hennessy.

The question is, how will Drom Coach Pat Ryan and his players attempt to deal with Cait's influence? They cannot afford to give away frees as she will point them all day long – so too with Eimear McGrath on the other side, by the way.
There has been some tremendous camogie played this season so far with the good weather being very conducive to fast open play. And, that's exactly what we are expecting again on Saturday with the county showpiece certain to entertain and thrill in equal measure. Spectator wise, this one would really have brought them from all over to see the game, but unfortunately, viewing will be limited.

It promises to be an intriguing game – a real 50/50 battle if ever there was one.
Who will win it? Whichever side manages to bring their top form to the final.