By Cóilín Duffy

ANOTHER milestone for Carlow camogie was reached in Kinnegad on Saturday as the county minor team powered to victory over Roscommon in the All-Ireland minor C championship final.
Coming fast on the heels of last September’s All-Ireland Premier Junior win for the county and the All-Ireland intermediate club victory for Myshall in February, these are certainly rare times for camogie in the county.

Members of the Carlow minor camogie team celebrate their victory over Roscommon in the All-Ireland minor C championship final in Kinnegad Photo: Inpho/Tom Beary

Goals provided the foundation for Carlow’s success on Saturday and after the game, manager Ger Power was keen to focus on the work-rate and energy shown by his squad.
“These girls weren’t coming up here to lose today,” he told The Nationalist after their 4-10 to 0-12 win.
“I knew once these girls put in at least a half a performance today, they weren’t going to go away without silverware.
“The first 10 minutes Roscommon were strong, but once we got the first goal that settled us.

Roscommon’s Shauna Fallon comes in to block Carlow’s Roisin Meaney

“When you have girls like Emma Cody, Eve Sinnott, Rachel Sawyer, it’s a big building block for me. Having said that, our backs were absolutely fantastic today.
“You will always go through a bad patch in a game, but our backs stopped them from scoring. That brought confidence back into our midfielders and forwards as well.
“We only had about four wides on the day. There were a lot of scores, and we spoke about it in the dressing room – any opportunity you get, you take it, and one thing the girls did today was score.”

Carlow’s Ali Cushin, Eve Sinnott and Emma Cody celebrate their victory over Roscommon in Kinnegad Photo: Inpho/Tom Beary

In a game which was played at a high pace, Power rightly heaped credit on all those involved, including senior manager Mark Brennan and selector Craig Wall for their huge input in reaching yet another milestone for Carlow camogie.
“Mark put in huge work with the training,” Power said. “My mind only had to work on the pitch, and Mark looked after the fitness. Craig has been fantastic over the last couple of years as well. He has done an amount of work, as a senior hurler as well.
Ger also had a special word for Carlow camogie secretary Linda Kenny.
“Linda is a women I have to give special thanks to. I have to really applaud her for everything she has done. The players do it, and the parents work hard as well.
“This is going from families to mentors to players, to spectators that may not have a child on the team. The support we have here today is fantastic. I’m just over the moon. It’s unreal.”