“People of Offaly,” read an X post from the official Offaly camogie account after their intermediate success at Croke Park on Sunday, “whether you’re in Shinrone or Edenderry, Banagher or Tullamore, Clareen or Moneygall, Cheltenham or Florida, Birmingham or Zambia, Sydney or Uganda … here are your All-Ireland Champions”.
What caught the eye was the reference to Moneygall, which is disputed territory (“the border is fluid around there” was one succinct description we heard).
While the village of Moneygall is in Co Offaly, the club’s pitch is entirely in Tipperary.
“There are five roads out of Moneygall village, and all five bring you into Co Tipperary within two kilometres or less,” club secretary Eugene Ó Riain told GAA.ie in 2022.
The pitch, he explained “was part of an old estate taken over by the Land Commission, and all of our developments would have been supported by the north Tipperary board or the Tipperary board.”
There were two Moneygall players on the panel yesterday, Mairéad Teehan and Ciara Maher. Teehan played for Tipperary but grew up supporting Offaly and later made the switch.
Asked in the Tullamore Tribune this week if she had attended the recent Tipp v Cork hurling final, Teehan laughed: “No, no, no, I didn’t go. I wouldn’t be going supporting Tipp to be honest. It’s mad the way it works out. Shur, half of our team in Moneygall would be wearing Offaly jerseys, half of them would be wearing Tipp.”
O’Moore women continue tradition
Laois banished the heartbreak of losing the 2024 All-Ireland premier junior championship decider by a point when they ran out nine-point victors over Armagh in Sunday’s final.
In doing so, the O’Moore women continued a well-established tradition. Laois’ win marked the eighth occasion in the last 20 years that the winners of this competition had lost the final the season before.
Derry lost the 2006 final but came back to beat Clare in the decider a year later. The year after that, the Banner went all the way against Offaly and, true to form, the following season, Offaly got over the line.
Galway’s Niamh Mallon and Laura Hayes of Cork.
Photograph: INPHO/ Bryan Keane
In 2015, it was the turn of Laois, who beat Roscommon in the final having lost out to Down the year before. Dublin lost the 2017 decider but won it in 2018 against Kerry; the Kingdom claimed the title in 2019.
Last year, Tipperary made amends for losing the previous final to Clare when they defeated Laois. Based on the trends, Armagh for the premier junior championship in 2026 – their last success was in 2020 – seems a reasonable bet at this point in time.
Cork and Galway former team-mates face off
An intriguing subplot to Sunday’s senior final was the fact that two former team-mates – Niamh Mallon and Sorcha McCartan – were in opposition.
Mallon lined out at wing forward for the Tribeswomen while McCartan was full forward for Cork. The pair are both natives of Co Down and played together on the Mourne side who won the All-Ireland intermediate title five years ago.
Portaferry native Mallon, who transferred to Sarsfields in Galway in 2023, scored 2-3 from play in that final win over Antrim with McCartan, daughter of Down 1994 All-Ireland winner Greg, scoring a point.
McCartan made the switch a year earlier, swapping home club Castlewellan for St Finbarr’s. She scored 1-1 on her debut for the Rebels, a league clash with Clare, and added another 1-1 in the All-Ireland final win over Waterford later that season.
On this occasion, bragging rights go to Mallon.
Martina McMahon is on an extraordinary run of success over the last 12 months across three different handball codes. Photograph: Stephen Marken
Success on the handball court
There was success for some noted camógs in the handball court at Croke Park at the weekend as well as on the pitch. In the All-Ireland senior softball singles semi-finals, Limerick’s Martina McMahon and Kilkenny’s Amy Brennan took straight-games wins, qualifying for this Saturday’s final.
McMahon, who is on an extraordinary run of success over the last 12 months across three different handball codes, formerly represented Limerick in camogie up to intermediate level before hanging up her camán to focus on handball.
Brennan is still heavily involved in camogie. Having represented the Cats at minor level, she was a member of the county Under-23 panel this year (a grade which has essentially replaced the old intermediate grade for top-tier counties) and played in the forward line as they lost the All-Ireland semi-final by a point to Galway.
Quote
“A seventh point of the match scored by marvellous Carrie Dolan …”
Shades of Marvellous Marvin Hagler as commentator Ger Canning perhaps bestows a new nom de guerre on Galway ace Dolan.
Number: 28,795
The attendance on Sunday was up by around 1,000 on last year but fell shy of the 30,000-mark last broken in 2023.