SATURDAY
All-Ireland Camogie Club Senior Championship final
Loughgiel Shamrocks (Antrim) v Sarsfields (Galway), Croke Park, 6.30pm - RTÉ2
All-Ireland Camogie Club Intermediate Championship final
Clonduff (Down) v James Stephens (Kilkenny), Croke Park, 4.15pm
SUNDAY
All-Ireland club SHC semi-finals
Ballygunner (Waterford) v Ballyhale Shamrocks (Kilkenny), Croke Park, 3.30pm - TG4
St Thomas' (Galway) v Dunloy Cuchullains (Antrim), Croke Park, 1.30pm - TG4
TV
Loughgiel Shamrocks v Sarsfields live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 6.15pm
Clonduff v James Stephens live on RTÉ Sport YouTube channel
Ballygunner v Ballyhale Shamrocks and St Thomas' v Dunloy live on TG4
RADIO
Commentaries and reports on Saturday and Sunday Sport.
WEATHER
Saturday: Another cold day with mist and fog in some areas. Highest temperatures of 1 to 4 degrees generally. Sunday: Rather windy on Sunday with outbreaks of rain or drizzle. Much milder than preceding days with highest temperatures ranging from 8 to 12 or 13 degrees. For more see met.ie
Sarsfields double vision meets Loughgiel's desire for first title
Sarsfields are in their sixth camogie senior club final in seven seasons and aiming to increase their conversion rate to 50% cent by going back-to-back for the first time at Croke Park today.
The East Galway outfit secured their second crown last March, when they gained revenge on Oulart-The Ballagh, who had dethroned them in the previous season's decider, played just three months earlier.
They are a team of many talents and while All-Star Orlaith McGrath is a considerable loss, having suffered another cruciate knee ligament injury in the summer, they can still call on a catalogue of top-tier operators in possession of both All-Ireland club and senior inter-county medals.
McGrath’s sisters Siobhán, Clodagh and inspirational skipper Niamh, as well as Maria Cooney, Tara Kenny, Sarah Spellman and Laura Ward are pivotal figures, Siobhán’s goal from a 46th-minute penalty giving them the breathing space they needed to overcome St Vincent’s of Dublin in the semi-final last Saturday.
Michael 'Hopper’ McGrath’s daughters and comrades had earlier been pushed all the way by Oranmore/Maree as they bagged a fourth county title on the spin, needing goals from Shannon Corcoran and Clara Donohoe to emerge victorious.
Loughgiel have had to be patient over the years but an apparently bottomless reservoir of resilience sees them preparing for their first ever All-Ireland senior final and attempting to become the second Antrim team to go all the way, after Rossa in 2008.
The Saffron powerhouses – their nine-point defeat of Ballycastle was their seventh consecutive county championship success - had suffered as Derry giants Slaughtneil registered three All-Irelands on the trot and six Ulsters in succession, the provincial titles all garnered at the Shamrocks’ expense.
Loughgiel had shown more than enough to suggest that they weren’t far off however, and this year, they finally claimed the coveted scalp of their Oak Leaf rivals to claim a seventh Ulster title and first since 2015, with five points in hand at the final whistle thanks to goals from Antrim stars Róisín McCormick and Caitrin Dobbin.
Loughgiel proved their credentials for the Bill & Agnes Carroll Cup by following that win up against Tipperary’s Drom & Inch last weekend, when Dobbin and McCormick were once again among the goals, along with Annie Lynn.
They carry a very clear attacking threat that Sarsfields will be conscious of and are also sound defensively, while Amy Boyle and Lucia McNaughton form an excellent midfield.
Clonduff and James Stephens vie for intermediate crown
Earlier today, Down champions Clonduff face James Stephens of Kilkenny at Croke Park for the intermediate title.
Paula O’Hagan and sisters Fionnuala Carr and Sara-Louise Graffin are all back after a year away having babies as Clonduff aim to regain the intermediate club title they won in 2019.
Throw others such as skipper Jenna Boden, Clare Kearney, an All-Ireland premier junior championship winner with Antrim this year, and goal sneak Beth Fitzpatrick into the mix and it’s easy to see why Clonduff are so close to the summit once more.
James Stephens have embarked on a tremendous journey in recent years, soaring to this stage just little more than two years after making the breakthrough at junior level in Kilkenny.
They signalled their progress by going through league and championship unbeaten this term. Castlegar (Galway) offered up another stern examination of their credentials at the penultimate hurdle before being beaten by five points.
Kilkenny’s goal-scoring All-Ireland final heroine, Sophie O’Dwyer is a key figure, with her accuracy from placed balls another string to her bow. Michelle Teehan and Niamh Deely are other stars of the black and amber who have helped propel The Village to this juncture, as they attempt to become the second Noreside club to win at this grade.
Saints v Setantas Sunday showdown
On Sunday afternoon, it's the men's turn at HQ as the senior club championship reaches the semi-final stage.
First up, it's five-in-a-row Galway champions St Thomas' against Dunloy Cuchullains of Antrim.
St Thomas' won the title in 2013 and got back to the final in 2019 but were beaten by Ballyhale Shamrocks.
In 2019-20 and 2021-22 they were knocked out by Boris-Ileigh and, again, Ballyhale. There was also a previous last-four exit to Ballyea in 2017.
"If you look at our track record, we've probably a habit of not showing up for All-Ireland semi-finals," Galway star Fintan Burke told RTÉ Sport this week. "You can make a hundred excuses but the buck lies with us.
"I wouldn't say we use it as a motivational factor. I'd say the biggest motivating factor for a lot of us is that it isn't going to stick around forever and you're not going to be as successful as we are at the moment.
"When you look at their [Dunloy's] past record, they've beaten Galway teams, Athenry and Portumna in the past. There's nothing in it on the best of days. And then when you bring in the bad weather and the time of year, it makes it tighter again."
Paul Shiels, still hurling with Dunloy five years after inter-county retirement, says the Antrim champions aren't "silly" enough to fancy themselves favourites but will "give it everything" to cap off a season when they finally got past Slaughtneil and won a first Ulster in 13 years.
"We're aware that we're the underdog," Shiels said. "But, look the Ulster teams have competed well.
"Loughgiel have obviously won an All-Ireland club recently (2012). Cushendall have played in a final and Slaughtneil played well in the semi-final.
"St Thomas' are a quality side. Umpteen Galway medals, they've won a club All-Ireland. So we're under no illusions and we're looking forward to it."
Battle of the Ballys
Later on Sunday, it's something of a grudge match as Ballyhale seek revenge against Ballygunner, who denied them the first club three-in-a-row with Harry Ruddle's injury-time goal earlier this year.
Colin Fennelly said recently that he felt there was some disrespect shown to Ballyhale in the aftermath, and though the Gunners' Shane O'Sullivan was keen to stress that was the opposite of what was intended, there could be an edge to this one, which has been confidently scheduled during the World Cup final.
Despite racking up nine Waterford championships on the trot, Ballygunner had become accustomed to losing Munster finals before breaking through that barrier and going on to win their first All-Ireland decider in February.
They breezed through the province this year, Limerick's Na Piarsaigh getting closest in a five-point semi-final defeat - despite having been four up at half-time.
"There might be a little bit more freedom in the context of having - not that monkey off the back - but having achieved that level," O'Sullivan told RTÉ Sport of the All-Ireland victory.
"It is a new year, a new team, it has new opportunities, it is going to be a completely different game. The four teams that are left are stronger than they were last year in different parts of the game.
"It isn't something we have paid any conversations to. It is in the past, although it was great, we have to move on."
Former Kilkenny captain Joey Holden was in San Francisco with Fennelly for the summer but both men returned to help Shamrocks secure a historic county five-in-a-row in what is the 50th anniversary of the club's foundation.
They have the considerable talents like TJ Reid, Adrian Mullen and Eoin Cody alongside them to help, and have already been back to Croker when narrowly beating Kilmacud Crokes in the Leinster final.
"We would have loved to win it, we will have ifs and buts about that game for a long, long time, but you just have to get up, get on with it, and look forward to the next game," said Holden of the dramatic defeat 10 months ago.
"They are All-Ireland champions, we aren't, they have the trophy. We cannot win anything on Sunday, but we can give ourselves a chance to move into an All-Ireland final.
"It is a serious battle ahead, but hopefully we can step up to the mark."
