Offaly camogie team stay in hunt for intermediate honours

THE camogie season is now heading towards the business end with the group stages coming to a close and the line ups for the knock out stages taking shape and the Offaly intermediate team is still strongly in contention for honours.

They booked their place in the quarter finals of the championship with an eight point victory over neighbours Westmeath in their final group game at O'Connor Park on Saturday last and have secured a quarter final meeting with Carlow on Saturday July 5^th.

This is Offaly's second season back in the intermediate grade following their relegation from the senior ranks at the end of 2023. They challenged strongly for an immediate return to senior last year but fell narrowly after a great battle at the semi-final stage to eventual champions Cork.

This year the structures of the championship have changed and senior counties can no longer field their second and third teams in the intermediate and junior ranks, thus last year's winners Cork and beaten finalists Kilkenny are no longer involved in their championship but in the newly formed under 23 championship instead. That should improve Offaly's chances of success but sport isn't as straightforward as that.

The season has gone well thus far for Offaly. They had a very good league campaign, topping their group and facing Derry, who are competing in the senior championship this season, in the league final in Thurles. The Ulster side proved no match for Offaly on the day and the Faithful girls captured the Division 2A title to set them up nicely for the championship.

With the changes in the structures, it meant there were only eight teams in the intermediate grade compared to 12 last year so there was less room for error with just three group games instead of five.

Offaly couldn't have got a tougher start having to travel to Antrim in their first game. Antrim were relegated from the senior grade last year and not only competed in a higher division in the league than Offaly this year but they actually won that Division 1B title by beating Clare in the final, so they will be competing in the top division in 2026.

The game proved to be a great contest with fortunes swaying one way and then the other and when Offaly levelled late on, they had the chance of a great victory but Antrim snatched the final two scores to win by two points, 1-16 to 3-8.

Offaly bounced back from that defeat with a big win in Trim over a Meath side who had been very competitive in the league by 3-15 to 0-11 and then followed that up with another good victory over Westmeath last Saturday, 2-14 to 2-6. Antrim also beat both Meath and Westmeath to finish top of the group and claim a place directly into the All-Ireland semi-finals with Offaly finishing runners up in the group.

Kerry topped the second group ahead of Down in second and Carlow in third, which means that Offaly will face Carlow in the All-Ireland quarter final on July 5^th. When the sides met earlier in the year in the league Offaly had a comfortable 3-10 to 1-5 victory. Carlow lost heavily to Kerry, 2-18 to 0-3, and also to Down, 1-14 to 1-5 with their only victory being a 2-16 to 0-12 victory over Kildare.

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Offaly will be favourites going into the tie to claim a place in the All-Ireland semi-finals, which are scheduled to St Conleth's Park on Newbridge on the following Saturday, July 12^th. The final is fixed for Croke Park as part of a triple header with the senior and junior finals on August 10^th.

It has been a good season so far for Offaly and they will hope to maintain that progress in the weeks ahead.