Drom-Inch aiming for 'dream start to Christmas'

An oft-heard refrain from young players who are elevated straight into a successful team is the sense that they almost expected the good times to remain a permanent fixture.

Aoife McGrath was no different back in 2012 when her club Drom-Inch contested the All-Ireland Camogie final against Oulart-the-Ballagh.

The Tipperary outfit lost that final and in the decade since, they haven't been back on that grandest of stages. Nor has any other club from the Premier County in that span.

Fast forward to this winter though and McGrath and her Drom-Inch team-mates spy an opportunity to try and get back into their first AIB All-Ireland decider in a decade and just a third in their history.

On Saturday, Antrim's Loughgiel Shamrocks stand between them and a place in the final and that prospect has suddenly stirred decade-old memories for Tipp inter-county stalwart McGrath.

"To be honest, I only realised today that it's 10 years since we were last in the All-Ireland and came up against a really good Oulart-the-Ballagh team on the day," said the wing-back.

"That would have been one of my first years involved in the panel and as a young girl back then you think, 'God, this is going to happen every year'. You're winning county finals, you're getting to club All-Irelands and playing in Croke Park as a young girl and you think, 'God, this is wonderful'.

"But it's been a long time coming since. There are a few of our panel who would have been involved back then, but for the most part they're younger girls so they haven't experienced it before.

"But we've lots of girls that are used to winning. They've won underage with the club. They've won All-Irelands and Munster finals with Tipp so they're used to winning and they love the buzz of winning."

McGrat