Dicksboro beat Sarsfields to land first All-Ireland club camogie title

A master class of shooting by Aoife Prendergast and a brilliant all-round team display that included some monumental contributions by the likes of Jane Cass, Katie Byrne, Amy Clifford, Asha McHardy and Lucinda Gahan were just some of the reasons Dicksboro secured a first AIB All-Ireland senior club camogie title at Croke Park.

In the process, they ended Sarsfields three-in-a-row dream but there was no arguing with the result, as the champions struggled to cope with the ‘Boro’s energy and apart from the third quarter, were not able to impose themselves in the way they have been accustomed to through their all-conquering reign.

The unavailability of inspirational skipper and midfielder, Niamh McGrath was certainly a factor and it was interesting that Sarsfields introduced their only sub, Cora Kenny, in the 59th minute, whereas the ‘Boro got a significant impact from their bench, especially in the case of former Kilkenny All-Ireland-winning captain Gahan, who was returning to the fray five months after giving birth and having broken her hand in the meantime and made some huge plays.

Prendergast is the Cats’ most recent successful skipper, having lifted the O’Duffy Cup last year, and her accuracy was pivotal, a tally of nine points built from all manners of distances and angles, the majority from frees but plenty of those testing, with two excellent scores also from play.

In total however, Donal Carroll’s team had eight individual scorers and they were worthy victors at the end of a pulsating game that was of a quality fitting for the prize on offer, played in excellent conditions and refereed superbly by Ray Kelly.

Dicksboro settled very well, despite this being their first appearance at this level. Indeed, quite