EIMEAR CONSIDINE’S GEAR bag will be stuffed as she leaves her home before joining with the rest of the Clare panel on their way to Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds for the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland senior camogie quarter-final against champions Galway today.
One essential, almost as important as the boots, helmet and hurley, is insisted upon by her mother.
“I have to have Holy Water” reveals the Dublin-based 22-year-old PE and Irish teacher.
“My mam often runs out to the pitch to me to hand me this Holy Water.
“And everyone knows at this stage it’s Holy Water.
“Supposedly, it’s to stop us getting injured but that didn’t work. But we still use it anyway.”
The injuries Considine refers to are the medial lateral knee ligament problem that forced her out of the League final after just five minutes, and the cruciate knee ligament that has ruled sister, Ailish out of action for the year.
The Division 1 decider was Clare’s first appearance in a national senior final and it went downhill after Considine’s departure. Kilkenny capitalised on some defensive disarray, while Clare missed plenty of scoring opportunities en route to a 14-point defeat at Semple Stadium.
The Kilmaley clubwoman is back to full fitness though and was on the team that cut that margin by 10 in the group stages of championship. A number of shrewd observers feel that she and her teammates can end Galway’s two-in-a-row bid.
“I know they’re All-Ireland champions but we beat them in the League last year, we lost to them this year and then won (in the play-off). So we wouldn’t fear them. The fact we beat them when we really needed to, when it was do-or-die; we know we can do it.
“Training is going really well. Everyone is fighting for a position. You really don’t know who’s going to be starting or when you’re going to get a chance. It’s that close. And it’s that close between the teams that are left in the championship too.
“We’ve a stronger panel than we’ve ever had. Usually around this stage we’d be losing players. This year, we have 30 in the panel, 30 in training. So we’re in good condition.”
