Another day and another nail in the coffin.
Just put yourself in the shoes of these camógs for a second.
A lifelong dream, a far fetched ambition. When they trekked over to their first ever training session all of those years ago with their clubs, that was the start of this journey.
With a hurl in their hands for the first time ever, they were bitten by the bug and so were the girls alongside them. That’s where it all started and their love and commitment for the game only grew and grew from then on. Otherwise they wouldn’t be preparing for an All-Ireland final this weekend.
Unfortunately today's @AIB_GAA All-Ireland Senior & Intermediate Club Championships Finals have been postponed in the interest of safety due to the current severe weather. Details of the re-arrangement of these Finals will be finalised and announced in due course. pic.twitter.com/e8nl04Conp
— The Camogie Association (@OfficialCamogie) March 18, 2018
We’re all dreamers as youngsters, and when these girls got more and more involved and more and more committed, they certainly fantasized about making it to the biggest stage of all.
The biggest stage of all is Croke Park on All-Ireland final day. They’d watched club finals in previous years and imagined it was them, they’d watched Kilkenny, Cork, Wexford and Galway slog it out on the hallowed turf. They’d seen the joy, the elation, the ups and downs. They’d seen it all.
They wanted it to be them. These were just fantasies though. Through hard work, dedication and commitment, they went out and made it happen like only the best characters do.
The camógs of Athenry, of Johnstownbridge, Sarsfields and of Slaughtneil made it happen for themselves, those teammates who stood alongside them at that first session, their communities.
Croke Park is a huge part of that lure, that magic, that draw. From the historical significance of Jones’ road, the bus through Drumcondra, the walls of those famous dressing rooms, the pitch, the famous stands, the ground over which their predecessors and those who inspired them have strode. They want to follow in those footsteps.
They’ve made it to an All-Ireland final but they won’t get to play in Croke Park.
FIXTURES UPDATE: Clones confirmed for @AIB_GAA All-Ireland Senior & Intermediate Club Championships Finals on Saturday March 24th https://t.co/O1TByqpsuR #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/r1sj02fDgv
— The Camogie Association (@OfficialCamogie) March 20, 2018
Instead, they’re being dragged down to Monaghan and a player involved who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons got onto us to express her disappointment and we can’t blame her for that.
Now this is no slight on St. Tiernach’s Park, Clones, Co. Monaghan because no other venue in Ireland can live up to Croke Park.
With the occasion having been postponed twice already due to the weather, these girls received another blow just four days before the biggest game of their lives.
And this comes on the same day that the National League camogie final between Cork and Kilkenny was pushed back two weekends so it could go ahead as a double header with the men, giving the teams just six days notice of the change.
Wouldn’t it make great sense to have had the men’s hurling replay, which is now taking place in Portlaoise on Saturday evening, and these camogie games on the one card in Croker this Saturday?
Maybe that would have made too much sense.
