While three quality matches are in store in the ladies’ junior, intermediate and senior championship finals next Sunday at Croke Park, novel they will not really be.
While Kerry and Dublin haven’t met before in the senior final, they are both very familiar with the big day. Kerry were there last year, losing to Meath, while the Dubs have been in 12 All-Ireland senior finals since 2003, winning five.
In the intermediate decider, three-time winners Clare meet Kildare in what is a repeat of the 2016 final, which the Lilywhites won by a point.
And at junior level, Limerick are seeking to regain a title they last held in 2016. Their opponents Down are bridging the longest gap to a corresponding final appearance of the six competing counties; they last made the junior All-Ireland final in 2000, when they defeated Galway.
The Mourne women did, however, reach two intermediate finals in the intervening period, winning it in 2014 when posting 6-16 against Fermanagh.
Derry’s misstep
Derry camogie joint-captain Áine McAllister used Twitter to voice her disappointment at the Derry men’s county board scheduling intermediate and senior football championship matches at the same time as the camógs were in action against Meath in the All-Ireland intermediate final on Sunday afternoon.
McAllister’s sister Sarah, herself a former county player, posted a screenshot of the fixtures, writing: “Very disappointed to see Derry GAA scheduling a Championship fixture, the same date/time as Derry Camogie compete in their All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Final. One step forward, two steps back it seems!”
Áine quote-tweeted the post, commenting: “Very disappointing considering the recent conversations regarding ‘United for Equality.’”
She later added that the football fixtures meant family and friends wouldn’t be able to attend the final which, she said, was a “lack of respect” from fixture-makers.
[ Ciarán Murphy: Time the GAA treated women’s teams with respect and equalityOpens in new window ]
Green and gold cross code
The postmortem will go on long into the winter in the Kingdom following their men’s All-Ireland final loss to Dublin. In this week’s Kerryman, journo Damian Stack listed his “Four things Kerry need to do to return to the summit”.
And they were as follows: Ensure Jack O’Connor stays on board for another year at least; Unearth some fresh talent; Give the Clifford brothers a proper break and Throw out an SOS to Geelong.
The fourth is most intriguing and, as the writer admitted, most unlikely. Mark O’Connor, the 2015 minor-winning captain and man of the match, is carving out an impressive career in the AFL, but if the Dingle man decided to switch codes, it would be an enormous boost to the Kingdom.
Stats entertainment
Twitter account @TheNumbersGael unearthed some cracking stats this week around football teams’ reliance on placed balls. Dublin were the least reliant in the country (just 18.67 per cent of their scores came from frees, 45s, marks and sideline balls) with Tailteann Cup winners Meath next on 20.27 per cent.
Fermanagh were in third, followed by Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Derry, Cork, Kerry and Antrim in that order. Dublin scored 2-32 in total in their All-Ireland semi-final and final wins, 2-20 from play.
Word of mouth
“I think Waterford have lit up this championship. They’ve brought the support, they’ve brought the crowds, there has been an added excitement and intrigue to this final and all credit to Waterford for that.” – RTÉ pundit Ursula Jacob.
By the numbers
30,191: Attendance at the All-Ireland camogie finals.
