Niamh O'Callaghan: 'It has been a great year'
Niamh O'Callaghan, Sarsfields, pictured ahead of this weekend’s AIB Camogie All-Ireland Club Championship semi-finals and for the release of the first full episode of ‘Meet #TheToughest’, a new content series from AIB that will showcase some of the final stages of this year’s AIB Camogie All-Ireland Club Championships, through footage captured by cameras worn by players for the first time in Gaelic Games. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
By Cian O’Connell
It has been a remarkable couple of months for Sarsfields in Cork, who have collected senior county titles in hurling and camogie.
The relevance of that fact isn’t lost on Niamh O’Callaghan with an AIB Munster Club Camogie triumph adding an extra layer of satisfaction.
“There is huge excitement, in a way it is bonus territory for us,” she says ahead of Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final encounter against champions, Sarsfields, from Galway.
“We didn't have our sights set on winning Munster. Our success rate now hasn't been great in Munster. We hadn't won a game, that was our first hurdle, to win our first game. So, there was great excitement and it is great to be still playing at this time of the year.”
A winning habit has been acquired by Sarsfields Leeside. “It has been a great year, the first time in the club's history doing a double - a men's senior title, a women's senior title, and both league titles too, which is huge,” O’Callaghan says. “Definitely, it adds to it even more, there is a great buzz around the club. It is a great time for us.
“This year, in fairness to the senior lads, Conor O'Sullivan, the captain, he has made a big effort in promoting our game coming up to the county final. Even in his speech just mentioning us and the support to give to the girls, all of that has helped hugely.”
Gaining in confidence and belief, O’Callaghan is thoroughly enjoying getting ready for high stakes matches at this stage in the campaign. “You'd nearly feel the winter slog would come in, that girls would get tired, but that momentum builds,” she says.
“It has been great for us. Since the Munster campaign started we have been out every weekend, that momentum has helped us up until now which has been great.”
Significant underage work has been carried out in Sarsfields with capable players now delivering at the highest level in Cork. “On the panel there is fierce youth that have a lot of experience and a lot of experience winning,” O’Callaghan remarks.
“They have won an awful lot through the years, they have been involved in Cork panels, through minor panels, development panels.
“So, there has been a huge emphasis put into underage development in the club. You can really see that coming to the fore now with these girls coming through.”