Duane Hardware Intermediate Club Championship Final
Salthill Knocknacarra 0-8 Castlegar 0-9
Date: 30 Oct, 1pm
Venue: Loughrea
Ref: Alan Dwyer
Player of the match: Meghan Wall, Castlegar
DOWNLOAD: Match program (pdf)
MATCH REPORT
By Sarah Gaughran
Castlegar were crowed the 2022 Duanes Hardware Intermediate Champions after a very close contest between themselves and Salthill Knocknacarra on Sunday in St Brendan’s Park, Loughrea. It
was 10 years since Castlegar won it last and back then, they made it all the way to the All-Ireland Club final where they overcame the Rower Inistioge from Kilkenny in the final.
There was nothing between the sides in the opening half. Laura Kelly opened the scoring for Salthill Knocknacarra on the 7 th minute for Salthill Knocknacarra. Chloe Broderick brought the sides level after 10 minutes when she pointed a free for Castlegar. Kelly added two more points through frees to Salthill Knocknacarra’s tally while Broderick responded with another free on the 22 nd minute to leave one between the sides. Salthill Knocknacarra replied with their first score from play while Broderick responded with her 3rd free of the game on the 25th minute to reduce the deficit to 1 again.
Castlegar added their first point from play on the 31 st minute of the half to leave it all square at 0-4 a piece heading into the half.
Scores were very hard to come by during the game with the majority of the scores throughout the contest coming from frees. Credit must go to both defences who made it difficult on both sets of forwards to get scores. Laura Kelly tried to lay down a marker for Salthill Knocknacarra at the beginning of the second half as she slotted over 3 points through placed balls between the 32nd and 41st minute to give them a three-point lead. It looked like Salthill Knocknacarra were going to push on from this but 3 quick points for Castlegar through a Broderick free and two from play meant that the sides were deadlocked heading into the final quarter. Kelly replied with Salthill Knocknacarra’s first score in 10 minutes to give them at 1 point lead again, but two Broderick frees on the 54th and 58th minutes for Castlegar helped in sealing the victory by the narrowest of margins for Castlegar. It finished Castlegar 0-9 Salthill Knocknacarra 0-8.
Castlegar will be delighted to have secured the victory having struggled in the knockout stages of the championship for the last few years. Salthill Knocknacarra will be disappointed to lose out by a point for the 2nd year in a row. They had a chance to level it right at the end of the game through a free, but they opted to drop it in short and the Castlegar defence stood strong and ensured the ball was cleared off the line. Castlegar now progress onto the AIB All Ireland Club Championship semi-final. They will also take part in the Fr Lawless Connacht Intermediate Final where they will take on St Dominic’s from Roscommon in the final.
MATCH PREVIEW:
The Duanes Hardware Intermediate Camogie Championship takes place today at 1PM in Loughrea. It sees a clash of the city titans with current league champions, Castlegar, taking on last years county and All Ireland Club finalists, Salthill Knocknacarra. Both sides remain unbeaten in the championship to date. The sides have only met once during the year back in May during the league when Castlegar ran out 3 point winners on the day.
Castlegar are a side that have improved immensely over the course of the year. The side, who have failed to pass the quarter final stages over the last 3 years have shown that a mixture of youth and experience is working well throughout the year. They also have the return of Eva Gillmore to the side after her cruciate ligament injury last year, while they have former Galway star, Caitríona Lee in the backs and they also have Elisha Broaderick, a member of the 2019 Galway Intermediate team that made the All Ireland final, up front. Castlegar are unbeaten to date. They overcame both Pearses and Ahascragh Caltra by narrow margins while they comfortably overcame Ballinderreen and Abbeyknockmoy during the group stages. This ensured they topped the group and made it straight into the Semi Finals where they overcame and experienced Killimor side on a score line of Castlegar 0-12 Killimor 0-5.
Salthill Knocknacarra will be looking to make up for the disappointment of the 2021 county final when a late point from Colleen Callanan sealed the deal for Kinvara. Due to Kinvara’s amalgamation with St Colman’s for a period of 3 years, Kinvara were not able to progress onto the All Ireland stages and because of this, Salthill Knocknacarra took their spot in the competition. They added a Connacht title during this time while they made it all the way to All Ireland Final day where they were unlucky to lose out to a very experienced St Rynagh’s side.
While there is nothing between the sides, the experience that Salthill Knocknacarra has gained from big matches over the last year will stand to them. Castlegar on the other hand will be looking to add to their league title that they won earlier in the year. It will be an interesting clash of the city clubs with the winner being rewarded with Senior status for the 2023 season.
ADDITIONAL
- PREVIEW: Castlegar v Salthill Knocknacarra – Galwaybayfm
Meet the captains
Duane Hardware: Sponsors of the 2022 Intermediate Club Championship
O’Reillys, Salthill, sponsors of the Intermediate Club Championship Cup