2024 AIB All-Ireland Intermediate Club Camogie Championship Final – Clanmaurice (Kerry) 2-16 Ahascragh Caltra (Galway) 1-1

Clanmaurice (Kerry) defeated Ahascragh Caltra (Galway) by 2-16 to 1-1 in the AIB All-Ireland Intermediate Club Camogie Championship Final on Sunday December 15th at Croke Park.

Kerry Clan too strong for Ahascragh/Caltra

By Daragh Ó Conchúir, at Croke Park

Clanmaurice (Kerry) 2-16 Ahascragh/Caltra (Galway) 1-1

Jackie Horgan plundered the goals but Clanmaurice were too strong all over the field as they cantered to a second AIB All-Ireland intermediate club camogie title at Croke Park to ensure an historic shot at senior fare in 2025.

Ahascragh/Caltra struggled to get any sort of a grip on proceedings and while Aoibhe Glynn’s scintillating goal in the 24th minute gave them hope, as it brought them to within three points of their distinguished opponents, with the interval approaching, that hope was extinguished by Horgan’s two ruthlessly taken goals.

The second of those arrived seven minutes after the resumption to make it an 11-point game and there was no way back from that.
Clanmaurice are well accustomed to playing in Croke Park and in national finals, in club and county colours, and that showed as they flew out of the traps to score four points without replay in the first nine minutes.

Ahascragh/Caltra hadn’t made it inside the opposition 45 by this stage and when they finally did in the 11th minute, Emma Reaney’s shot was adjudged by Hawk-Eye to have drifted just the wrong side of the posts.

Horgan had already been wide of the mark with a speculative shot when she sourced Amy O’Sullivan with an astute low delivery in the fourth minute. O’Sullivan, who missed last year’s successful campaign through injury, had her jersey tugged by Denise Kelly and when Kelly blocked the forward’s shot after Gavin Donegan had allowed advantage, the referee rightly called play back for a penalty.

Patrice Diggin’s piledriver thundered off the crossbar but Horgan gathered and though bottled up, found enough space to kick over off her left peg.

Diggin, the classy, long-serving midfielder who is also captain and club secretary, fired over a scintillating point soon after, off her back foot and falling over the Cusack Stand sideline, 46m out.

Rose Behan and the impressive Caoimhe Spillane also found the target before both sides missed chances.

The Galway contingent struggled to gain a foothold around the middle, where Diggin dovetailed well with Kerry’s All-Ireland-winning footballer and All-Star Danielle O’Leary. When they did, they found Sara Murphy and Niamh Leen in trademark obdurate form.

Kate Lynch, who had a very good game, broke a ten-minute fruitless spell with a point after a well worked move, taking a pass from the industrious Laura Collins, but a goal was there for the taking, with only O’Sullivan and Kelly between here and the posts.
That was two green flags eschewed by the champions and Glynn showed them how it was done. It was a truly magnificent effort too, as she somehow managed to pick up the sliotar in a ruck, surrounded by Clanmaurice players, after Aoife Fitzgerald had batted a dropping ball. From an almost impossible angle to the right of the parallelogram, Glynn roofed a howitzer and the challengers’ aspirations had oxygen.

Once more, the experience of their Kerry rivals showed however, as they totted up the next two scores before half-time.
Both came from Horgan, who registered a high quality point before goaling from close range in the third minute of injury time after Diggin and Murphy combined to send Collins clear.

This time, the two-on-one was utilised expertly, Helen Cullinane’s attentions drawn and the pop given to the hand. The rest was routine for a player of Horgan’s prowess.

That left it 1-6 to 1-0 at half-time but that gap quickly opened further, as Behan and Diggin (free) recorded points before Horgan picked up a break just outside the square and drilled beyond an exposed Laura Noone.

Ahascragh/Caltra kept battling but the Clanmaurice had threats everywhere, with the likes of Spillane and Lynch relishing the increasing spaces. Horgan had a point with her last act before she was withdrawn to a loud cheer as John Madden utilised his only three available subs late on.

Sarah Noone struck the westerners’ only point in the 58th minute but it was a tough day at the office for the red and green.

For Clanmaurice and Kerry camogie, it was another famous day.

SCORERS FOR CLANMAURICE: J Horgan 1-3; C Spillane, P Diggin(3fs) 0-4 each; K Lynch 0-3; A Behan 0-2

SCORERS FOR AHASCRAGH/CALTRA: A Glynn 1-0; S Noone 0-1

CLANMAURICE: A Fitzgerald, R McCarthy, S Murphy, M Costello, A Behan, N Leen, A O’Connor, P Diggin, D O’Leary, C Spillane, K Lynch, L Collins, AM Leen, J Horgan, A O’Sullivan
Subs: E Ryall for O’Connor (55), J O’Keeffe for Horgan (56), C Moloney for O’Sullivan (57)

AHASCRAGH/CALTRA: L Noone, D Kelly, H Cullinane, M Higgins, .R Blehane, S Noone, C Ní Cheallaigh, A Fitzpatrick, A Ní Cheallaigh, C Power, A Glynn, C Murray, L Kirwan, E Reaney, S Murray
Sub: M Mulryan for Power (ht); J Higgins for Murray (40), L Glynn for Blehane (40), E Blehane for Glynn (52), G Gerard for Ní Cheallaigh (57)

Referee: Gavin Donegan (Dublin)

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15
AIB ALL-IRELAND INTERMEDIATE CLUB CAMOGIE FINAL
Ahascragh/Caltra (Galway) v Clanmaurice (Kerry), 2pm, Croke Park
Referee: Gavin Donegan (Dublin)
Live on Camogie Association YouTube

The Clanmaurice story continues and they are back in the final, 12 months after defeating Meath’s Na Fianna by a goal in their first appearance at this level.

They made their first All-Ireland club final appearance in the 2017 junior decider, which they lost to another Meath outfit, Kilmessan, after a replay. Setbacks and seemingly insurmountable odds are like fodder to this group of players, however.

They became champions in 2019 after a replay with Raharney but the Westmeath girls got their revenge in the following season’s decider, while Eoghan Rua denied them by the minimum in the 2021 final.

They made little of the step up to intermediate, winning the Munster championship in each of their three seasons at that level to date.
They scaled new heights last year but that should have come as no surprise as they have also brought the Kingdom to intermediate at county level and the second tier of the League, although they dropped to Division 2A in the spring.

They have continued this rise, despite their pick being reduced as more adult teams begin to sprout up in Kerry, thanks in large part to their success and, of course, the labour of the county’s camogie cognoscenti.

The names remain familiar, Jackie Horgan, Patrice Diggin, Niamh Leen et al leading the charge and they were all prominent along with the likes of Kate Lynch and Aoife Behan as the Clan beat Ballinora (Cork) by five points to complete their provincial three-in-a-row.

Diggin did the scoring damage on that occasion but it was Horgan who inflicted the pain on St Brigid’s (Laois) in the All-Ireland semi-final in Bansha. The powerhouse’s goal gave the winners vital breathing space as the midlanders came at them hard after the resumption and in the end, they had two points in hand despite the concession of two late goals.

We know the strength of the Galway club game and so Ahascragh/Caltra are sure to represent extremely stern opposition. They were worthy victors against 2011 All-Ireland senior champions Killimor in the county final on a 1-11 to 0-5 scoreline, conceding only two points from play.

They faced a stiffer test from Roscommon representatives Oran in the Connacht final but emerged with three points in hand and it was tighter still as they cleared the penultimate hurdle.

Extra time was required for them to overcome Tyrone champions, Eglish in Kinnegad, 1-8 to 0-10. It was a real grind of an encounter and a Sarah Noone point earned the Galway girls a reprieve. They had another when they fell two points down but Noone’s free from distance went straight to the net. And it was the fabulous joint skipper that struck the winner in the second half of the added time.

This is by no means a one-player outfit, as Aoibhe Glynn and Emma Glynn are others of note in what is a very well rounded outfit moulded by Paddy Hartigan.