This article is from page 91 of the 2008-05-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 91 JPG
CLARE camogie captain Deirdre Murphy was in Croke Park yesterday to help launch the 2008 Gala All-Ire- land Camogie Senior, Intermediate and Junior Championships.
President of the Camogie Associa- tion, Liz Howard, was joined at the launch by the captains and managers of all 27 counties competing in this year’s Championships.
Speaking at GAA _ headquarters, Murphy said Clare have some mo- mentum to build on this year.
“Winning the League this year was a great achievement for Clare but we really want the championship,” she said. “The way we lost the junior last
year to Derry by a last minute goal was very hard to take. We had played really well and it came down to a bit of misfortune on our part.
“This year we hope to go that one step better. We’ve drawn against difficult teams in our group like Of- faly and Antrim but we are confi- dent enough. At the minute we are a long way from Croke Park, our first game is against Offaly on 29 June and that’s all we’re thinking about,” Murphy said.
Reigning Champions Wexford will be hoping to retain the crown they won last year for the first time since 1975. There will be several sides aiming to relieve them of the O’Dutfy Cup including last year’s
runners up and 2006 winners, Cork.
The Gala All-Ireland Senior Cham- pionship action begins this weekend. Last year’s Champions Wexford have the weekend off with the six remain- ing teams all in action. 2007 run- ners-up Cork will travel to Dublin as they hope to get their champion- ship off to a winning start. National League champions Kilkenny will host Tipperary, while Limerick, who are new to the Senior Championship after their All-Ireland B Final win last year, will travel to take on Gal- way.