Kilkenny Senior Championship 2024

Senior County Final  -    Piltown V Dicksboro  - Sun 20 Oct 24

From the Tour De France to County Champions…

The Tour de France passed through Piltown in June 1998. To celebrate the fact that our village in the south of Kilkenny, was being visited by ‘the Tour’ , there was a festival in the village for the days leading up to it. There was a lot of the activity in the village that week, with French markets, Dj Carey, French Ministers in black Mercs , busking competitions, story tellers , fancy dress parades, cyclists names painted on the road, Tricolour flags of Ireland and France, grandstands on the main street. Being a cyclist myself ,that was amazing and surreal to see the worlds most famous race passing up the Main Street and past the Tower as they headed towards Cork.

On the night of Sunday 20 October 2024, there was another amazing and surreal experience on the same main street , as the Piltown Camogie Senior team walked the same road , lined with some of those same people , cheering them home , just as they did to cyclists 26 years previously. The reception they got was the ‘hair standing on your arms’ kind. There may have been only two hours notice for the parishioners of Templeorum, Piltown and Owning , to be ready compared to the weeks of preparation that went into the Tour de France spectacle, and this time the flags along the street were all black and amber, but it was just as spectacular, just as enthusiastic, but, one thing different this time. This time they were cheering home their daughters, their sisters, their cousins, their girlfriends, their wives and even their mother !

In the intervening 26 years, there may not have been many reasons to have such a homecoming but this was the mother and father of good times, after 32 girls went to Kilkenny, took on and beat down the reigning County, Leinster and All Ireland champions on the field of Nowlan Park. As was said numerous times that day ‘Dreams came true’ .. Dreams do come true…

Sometimes , you could be afraid to dream , as those dreams have been shattered on the field a couple of times before, but you could feel something different in the air. You could see this bunch had an extra bit about them. Battle hardened, and battle scarred from previous heartbreak. Written off after previous battles didn’t go their way – but you can lose battles and still comeback to win the war. These girls proved it.

Pre Match ........ 

A team bus to Kilkenny, nearly forgetting Niamh Culleton after a hap hazard headcount, and it turned out that we were lucky she did flag down the bus , and climb aboard. Nervous laughter , nervous chatter , speaker volume not too high, no time to get too carried away yet this early. We arrive in Kilkenny in plenty of time, time to offload enough hurleys to light many a Halloween bonfire, and bags that seemed big enough for a fortnights holiday in Santa Ponza.

Out the tunnel under Ardan Breathnach, “sorry, you cant puck around on the pitch until 30 mins before throw in “ they were told, mainly due to the fact that there was a storm blowing from the Town end towards the Loughlins Road end that was testing the strength of the flags around the ground. Programmes were got and flicked through, a wee puck in the corridor, rice cakes, another peek through the programme, jesus we are up here too early, a bit of nerves kicking in.

The clock is ticking slowly towards ‘the time’. Piltown are out first, theres hammering on the door, and a minute later the Captain leads them out, Katie Power barrels down the corridor, cheeks puffed eyes glaring – This is it. This is her time. She is followed out by her 31 other teammates , all have the look of a team about to face their time, is this their time? Tears in the eyes of others , unfortunately its not their time, not this time ….. Sport can be tough, and unfair.

Photos taken on the long bench ,some have to force a smile, others it comes naturally. Then off to the corner, its time to work. Helmets on, game face on, switched on. A yielding pitch after all the rain, nice bit of grass, but the wind. That wind will have a say. The Clubber camera up over our head.

The toss was made and we were playing with the wind.

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The match .............. ​

Dicksboro struck first, Aobha OGorman pointed and Tommy made his first foray across the pitch, Ciara OShea started the WWE on Katie Power , pulling dragging, trying to get a reaction. Dicksboro started well with Aoife Norris saving a half hearted shot from Rose Kelly, before Ellen OKeeffe was adjudged to have fouled just around the arc, and Aoife Prendergast made no mistake . Aoife Norris was hitting the oppositions 45 yard line with her puck outs, but the Boro were doing okay under them , with Ciara Phelan getting her sides third point to no reply as they worked the ball nicely up their right wing.

They were coping well playing into the breeze, we struggled to get to grips with it, and our first shot from Kellyann went to the left and wide. Kellyann had another chance in the 8th minute, and made no mistake from a free out near the 65.

Straight from that , Katie Power picked up a loose puckout, Katie handpassed it high into Heather, but it was a couple of inches too high and the chance went. The Boro fouled again, and Kellyann pointed it again. Now Piltown were on top, and were keeping the Boro inside their own 65, and once again Katie got the ball in hand , Ciara OShea hanging onto her by the neck, Power wriggled free, and put the ball towards Heather Phelan, this time into her hand, but Heather couldn’t get a hurley at it, and kicked it over the bar to level the score. Finally ref ODwyer had enough of their ‘tactic’ , and produced a yellow card to Boro’s OShea. Aoife Prendergast once again punished Piltown for a foul, with Katie Power levelling it again, Heather Phelan this time setting Power free with a handpass, Power wheeled away happy, hand in the air, White flag waving for a point , 18 mins gone.

Aoife Norris then took possession of the ball after a shot from Prendergast, Aoife took two steps, and was pushed to the grass, and strangely enough was blown for ‘over carrying’. Prendergast put the resulting free over the bar. Kellyann replied with another free as the scoring chances from play were scarce enough. There was little time on the ball as both teams denied the other any space, and the time to find it. The free taking competition continued with Kellyann unerringly putting her fourth free of the half over the bar despite the howling wind and we took the lead. Laura Norris was cleaning up all the dropping ball as she broke through tackles and delivered into the forwards. Ellen OKeeffe went down injured and the swarm of orange bibbed Boro mentors delivered water and advice to their players , and they were doing a good job playing into the wind, trailing by only a point. That was soon doubled as Sophie Holden got onto a breaking ball from a long Karen Duggan clearance, jinked inside and put it over the ball. Kellyann stood over another placed ball heading into injury time. Dicksboro had a golden goal chance just on the stroke of half time , when Orla Handrick got on a crossed ball from Rose Kelly, it beat defenders Karen Duggan and Emily McCarthy , and she put it over the bar, mainly due to McCarthy getting some contact on the forward forcing her to go for a point. There was still time for Asha McHardy to split the posts to leave the minimum at half time.

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Half Time Score – Piltown 0-08 Dicksboro 0-07

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Dicksboro now had the breeze, had we enough scored?

Then a critical moment, Kellyann stood over yet another free, between the 45 and 65, she struck it hard and high, it dropped like a stone in the wind, up went Caoimhe Dowling, it missed her hand, and it also missed the desperate dive from Kirsty Maher and it went into the bottom left hand corner of the net ! What a start to the half. Piltown tails were up now, and Patsy Kenny was causing panic in the Boro defence, as she got out in front for a low ball, turned and headed for goal, and was stopped in her tracks for another free. Kellyann made no mistake driving it hard into the wind, and hard into the large net behind for another point. Patsy got on the end of a free driven in by Aoife Norris from half way, she laid it off, but Kellyann put the ball wide as she was off balance.

Aoife Prendergast got a chance in the 37th minute to try settle down her side, but she also missed as the wind drove her shot from the right side to the right of the post and wide. Lorna OShea and Niamh Culleton were on top in the middle now, leading to yet another free and another point from Kellyann on the 21yard line, after she was fouled. 40 minutes gone, and we had a six point lead, we were driving forward, using the ball cleverly , Ellen OKeeffe and Sophie Holden so hard to dispossess when they have the ball.

But reigning County, Leinster and All Ireland champions do not give up, and Aoife Prendergast got them moving with points from frees in the 40th and 43rd minutes. Our own Kilkenny star was soaring though, and after great work from Lorna OShea and Patsy Kenny, Kellyann put the sliothar over Kirsty Mahers head and her crossbar.

Frees were keeping the Boro in the game, with yes again, Aoife Prendergast putting them over the bar , wind assisted from under Ardan de Gras in the 46th minute to cut the lead to four points.

The temperature was rising as we got closer to the line, It was backs to the wall and shoulders to the wheel time for Piltown, Aobha OGorman cut it to three points and it seemed that the Boro were starting to gain control. The Boro fans were shouting when Prendergast cut it to a two point game with her tenth point. Was it a case of here we go again!?

But this group don’t do panic, they dig in, they fight and they take what they want. Straight from Aoife Norris’s puckout to the left wing, Katie Power won the ball, hand passed it off to the charging Alanna Gallagher, she found Niamh Culleton in space, she delivered it low in front of Sophie Holden, she tapped it up into her hand, twisted and turned to her right into the space and from the 14 , drove it across Mahers goal into the far corner of the net . GOAL! What a roar from the Piltown supporters on the opposite side of the pitch. Dare we believe? Ten minutes left

Strangely , Niamh Culleton was penalised for overcarrying (the fourth Piltown girl to be penalised for the same), but luckily Aoife Prendergast couldn’t get it on target and it went wide.

It was frantic on the pitch now, Boro battling , and Piltown battling back, and then an injury that kind of killed the momentum that Dicksboro were rebuilding. Aoife Landers , who was immense throughout the game, was fouled over on the sideline, giving Kellyann another free, it was mishit by her, won by the Boro defenders, won back by Doyle, she hit a high and mighty ball towards goal, the wind caught it and it dropped like a stone, and it was met by the flying Niamh Culleton as she followed in , the ball dropped in front of her and she hit it first time into the net. We can believe? 5 minutes left.

The battle was taking its toll, players going down injured, cramping up and battling to the end. Aoife Prendergast scored another point, with two minutes of the 60 remaining , and a minute later she stood over another and put that over too. Six points ahead , entering three minutes of injury time.

We can believe!

The Boro were lobbing balls in around the danger zone now, Piltown defending with all they had, Laura Norris and Allana Gallagher putting in huge hits to make sure they kept them out. Thou shall not pass. Emily McCarthy, Lorraine Long and Alice Talbot battling as the Boro tried to remain County champions. Ultimately they ran out of ideas, and time as the whistle went, and we were County Champions !!

Senior Camogie Champions for the first time.

FINAL SCORE PILTOWN 3-11 DICKSBORO 0-14

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Wild scenes in the ground as the stands emptied of the Piltown supporters and spilled out onto the pitch. Hugs , jumps, falls to the ground. Pure, genuine emotion, genuine relief, genuine girls just after fulfilling their dream. Their families, friends, and strangers joined them as they merged into one big happy mass of black, yellow, amber, adults, kids, as the joy of a parish was shown for appreciation of what was just achieved.

Eventually , Captain Katie Power walked up the steps with Aoife Doyle to collect the Biddy Barry trophy. The Senior Championship trophy, our girls received the cup and rose it high in the air to massive roars from around and in front of them. What a moment. After an amazing speech by Katie Power, the cup was brought to the field, down to the Captains soldiers, her team mates, her friends, each one now a County final winner.
The celebrations continued for a while in the changing room, and once the panel were ready, the bus headed to the reception in Langtons, where a massive crowd was waiting. The panel and management were cheered into the reception room by a crowd of family , friends, ex players, ex managers, coaches and committee. Once again , powerful , emotional speeches by the team Manager Andrew ‘Chuckie’ Norris, and captain Katie Power , really drove home what it meant to them, and underlined what was achieved. We believe.

​*Player of the Match - Lorna OShea.

Apres match .......

Then back on the Piltown Coach , a coach full of cheer, and a Cup. We were met by a garda escort, we had fireworks on the Hill , we had people walking out to the end of their drive with flags, Sheila Norris , a Piltown camogie stalwart out waving us home. And we finally arrived on the main street , we stopped at the bottom of the hill , where a massive crowd awaited. Both sides of the roads lined with people cheering , waving flags and calling out names. It was a carnival , a carnival inspired by a group of 32 and their coaches, a very special group.

County Champions 2024 – Piltown Senior Camogie.

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But, the journeys not over yet. We travel to county Wexford to take on their champions Glynn-Barntown on Sunday 3rd November in a Leinster Semi Final.