Littlewoods National Camogie League Division 3 Final: Roscommon v Dublin at Coralstown/Kinnegad at 1.30 pm:
Roscommon’s camogie side play in their third national final in two and a half years when they face Dublin in the Division Three final on Sunday in Kinnegad at 1.30 pm. When the sides met early in the league campaign in Dublin, the home side prevailed by 2-10 to 1-6 but this Sunday will be different according to joint manager, Noel Finn.
Finn and his co-manager Noel Murphy are relishing the challenge of facing Dublin again and says that Roscommon are well capable of landing this title.
“We are back in a national final again with a totally new team. We lost seven players from last year and we are two more down now because of the Leaving Cert so it is almost a new team. We have no injuries to report and the girls have been training really well for this match,” he said.
“I was thrilled the way we battled against Kerry in the semi-final. It was a real physical battle and we rose to the occasion and what I really like about the team this year is that they have great heart and determination and those are great qualities to have going into a big game.
“I wouldn’t pass too much heed on the game against Dublin earlier in the league. When we played them we had three training sessions done and they had 26, and we ran out of steam in the last 15 minutes but this Sunday will be different. We have a lot more work done now.
“This is our third national final in the two and a half years that we have been with the team and hopefully it will be third time lucky. There are plenty of very good young players in Roscommon Camogie and the team need to get out of this division to progress. It would be a big help to the young players to be playing in a higher division both in league and in the championship. These big games are all on the day of course but if we can get the majority of our girls playing the way they are capable they can definitely win this final,” he concluded.
The younger brigade will be joined by the likes of Caroline Connaughton, Susan Spillane, Elaine Daly, Kelley Hopkins and Joanne Beattie and when you add in the talents of Rachel Fitzmaurice, Laura Fleming and Shauna Fallon it looks a very strong Roscommon outfit.
Roscommon have been unlucky in the two recent finals that they contested and maybe this time around it will be their day.
Prediction: Roscommon
