Laura Ward wary of Dicksboro threat ahead of Sarsfields quest for three in a row

Laura Ward is hoping that experience will help Sarsfields get across the line in Sunday’s AIB Camogie All-Ireland Senior Club Championship final however the Galway women know that it is not a deciding factor when it comes to finals at Croke Park.

Ward is arriving to GAA headquarters alongside her all-conquering team-mates, who have won the last two finals, and are looking to make it four out of five, having also won the trophy in 2020 when they stopped Derry’s Slaughtneil from making it a record-equalling four in a row.

Victory on Sunday would make it three in a row for the Tribes who last tasted defeat in the 2021 final against Wexford’s Oulart-The Ballagh.

Sarsfields exacted revenge for that defeat in the 2021-22 final, and added another in the same calendar year beating Loughiel Shamrocks from Antrim in December.

But this year, the three-time winners are up against the relatively inexperienced side, Dicksboro, albeit they hail from the same county as St Paul’s who have eight All-Irelands under their belt.

The Kilkenny champions will always bring an element of expectation to a contest, and while they have yet to compete in the national decider, Dicksboro have a team that is very capable of challenging and offering Sarfields a stern test on Sunday.

"I remember people saying, 'you have to lose one to win one’, and we still hadn’t won one’, and I was thinking in my head that we are never going to get to that day," said Ward, thinking back to those two losses to Slaughtneil in 2017 and 2018.

"Experience is important, but you see teams going to Croke Park with no experience and having a magical day, so sometimes being naive can be an advantage, having young players going in with no nerves.

"So experience, I hope, will stand to us,