Very Ireland national camogie league Division 1A (Saturday 2pm)
Ballinasloe: Galway v Dublin; The Ragg: Tipperary v Clare; Sunday 11.30am UPMC Nowlan Park: Kilkenny v Cork
THE big game of the weekend is the opener in a hurling/camogie double-header in UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday. Even though Cork arrive in Kilkenny with a 100% record from three games and the home side only won their first game a fortnight ago, this repeat of last July’s All-Ireland final should be a humdinger.
Both teams have been operating a little below full capacity due to injuries, some temporary and some longer term. It has been a chance for both managers to promote some of the fringe players and younger talent coming through from minor.
Defeats to Tipperary and Galway suggest that Kilkenny are having less success at this integration than Cork, but I think the red jersey will get them focussed. It should still end in a win for the visitors.
One of Saturday’s games is easy enough to call. Galway will beat bottom of the table Dublin who look out of their depth at this level.
The other game isn’t so easy to call.
Both Tipperary and Clare have played well in all three rounds so far. Tipp picked up wins against Galway and Dublin and pushed Cork close last week.
Clare beat Kilkenny in their opening game. Then they lost heavily to Cork before recovering well and running Galway close.
A win for Tipperary would put them very much in the frame for a spot in the league final. They should get it.
Very Ireland national camogie league Division 1B (Saturday 2pm, Liatroim): Down v Limerick
DOWN can leave themselves safe mid-table in Division 1B if they make use of home venue to record a victory on Saturday afternoon against the team that was surprise All-Ireland senior quarter-finalists last year.
Limerick reached that stage by coming with a late surge in the group games that included wins over both Down and Antrim. The Antrim game was in Corrigan Park and three weeks ago the Saffrons gained revenge by going down to Rathkeale and beating the home side quite convincingly.
Limerick are currently bottom of the group with Offaly just a point ahead. The pair play each other in the final round of games at the end of the month. Down though are on three points and would be very much in the danger zone if they were to lose to Limerick as they have to travel to group leaders Waterford next week and the prospect of a win would be remote.
It has been a strange league so far for Down who have played well in the opening half of the Antrim and Wexford games, but finished up with no dividend at the end. In fact their score difference took a hammering as a result of the second half in both games.
In between they delivered a more measured performance and beat Offaly in Liatroim – as they did in league and championship last year.
However there has to be a worry in the Down camp after top-scorer and captain Niamh Mallon limped off the pitch in Gorey early in the second half. In the championship tie in Limerick last year, Down were in control when they lost Mallon to injury and Limerick came back to snatch a narrow win with Caoimhe Costello’s accuracy from the dead ball key to the outcome.
Ominously for Down, Costello came off the bench against Waterford for her first game of the season and scored two points.
Down probably need a fully-fit Mallon to get anything from games at this level. Indeed they need to be at full strength and everyone focussed for the full game. If they get anything from this game, even a draw, they are out of relegation trouble. If Limerick win, they only need a draw against Offaly in the last round to be safe.
Very Ireland national camogie league Division 2A (Saturday 2pm)
Moylagh: Cavan v Meath; Raharney: Westmeath v Laois
WITH Derry winning midweek, the pressure is on Meath to not only beat Cavan in this re-fixed game but to win by a margin of more than 11 points. If that happens they will improve their chances of finishing above Derry in the table and reaching the league final.
Derry and Meath meet next Saturday with the winners going into that league decider. If the game finishes in a draw that means that the team with the better score difference will go through. Currently Derry are 11 points better off than the Royals.
After Derry lost at home to Kerry last week, it seems more difficult to predict form in this group. But Meath look to have a little more experience than Cavan at this level.
They have players who have performed at a higher level and as recently as 18 months ago ran Kilkenny close in an All-Ireland Intermediate semi-final.
By contrast Cavan were surprise winners in Division Three last year, just their third season back in adult competition. They did well to beat Laois three weeks ago, but it was achieved at a cost. Both their goals in that game came from the stick of Niamh Keenaghan who picked up an injury later in the game. That injury kept her out of the lineout the following week against Kerry and Cavan struggled for scores.
If she plays, Cavan could run Meath close. Without her, you would expect Meath to win and close in on Derry’s score-difference.
The other game is a bottom of the table clash. It probably favours Westmeath in that they have home advantage and have already drawn with league leaders Kerry. But in reality neither team is playing well.
Very Ireland national camogie league Division 2B (Saturday 2pm)
Cork Camogie Grounds: Cork v Galway; Buffers Alley: Wexford v Kilkenny
CORK have played one game and hammered Tipperary while Galway have lost two games – to Wexford and Kilkenny. So I can’t see anything other than a Cork win.
Meanwhile both Kilkenny and Wexford are unbeaten. So their game in Buffers Alley should be interesting – although Kilkenny will be favourites.
Very Ireland national camogie league Division 3A (Saturday 2pm)
Group 1 - Healy Park: Tyrone v Armagh; Tooreen: Mayo v Kildare
ARMAGH have done everything asked of them in the opening two rounds and they will be favourites to finish top of the group with this game in Healy Park.
Tyrone will expect Kildare to beat Mayo in Tooreen as they did last week and therefore the Red Hand ladies will need to beat Armagh to force a three way tie and score difference to decide the semi-finalists from the group. Frankly I cannot see that happening.
That is not to say that Tyrone are not making progress at this level. For a young inexperienced team they have shown progress between the Kildare defeat and last weekend when they hit the target 18 times against a team that had beaten them in the Nancy Murray Cup final last summer.
The concession of goals kept Mayo in the game however and that was their problem against Kildare as well. Armagh’s forward line is stronger than either of the other two teams and that doesn’t bode well for Tyrone.
Shane Hughes will have been happy enough with how his first two games have gone on the Armagh side-line. As well as getting the result he needed from each, he wasn’t afraid to run his bench to give substitutes game time.
He will probably need to know how good those subs are before long, but at the moment his team look to have the measure of their opponents in the next two games.
After losing their opening two games, it is hard to see Mayo upping their performance to halt Kildare taking the second semi-final spot available from the group.
Group 2 - Ballyforan: Roscommon v Louth; Bray Emmett’s: Wicklow v Carlow
GROUP 2 looks very easy to call this week – going on the two rounds to date.
Carlow will beat Wicklow to top the group on full points while Roscommon will put their defeat to Carlow last week behind them and ease their way into the semi-finals with a comfortable win in Ballyforan.
