With Galway senior hurlers and footballers having made their exit from this year's senior championship, the possibility of winning an All-Ireland senior title now rests with the ladies of the county. On Saturday next the Galway camogie team bid for a place in the All-Ireland senior final when they take on Kilkenny at Nowlan Park (2pm) in the first of the All-Ireland semi-finals double header.

Galway manager Liam Donoghue is confident that Galway can get in right on the day and overcome Kilkenny. “Of course we are aware that Kilkenny have been a bogey team for Galway, but we know that if we play to our potential, we will overcome Kilkenny even on home ground.”

Galway have a lot of quality players and with Regina Glynn and Therese Manton in the full-back line behind the hard working Anne-Marie Hayes and Sinead Cahalan. Niamh Kilkenny is likely to be played in the half-back line or midfield but expected to adopt a running role and is well capable of taking scores going forward.

However, Galway enter the game with a major worry with a doubt over the availability of Lourda Kavanagh and veteran player Veronica Curtin. Kavanagh is almost certainly a non starter but Liam Donoghue and his selectors will be hoping that Curtin, who sustained a nasty injury in training that ruled her out of the final group game with Limerick, will have recovered sufficiently to take her place in the starting line up.

Kilkenny are a team that are building and have not won the O’Duffy Cup since 1994. It was 20 years earlier that they won their first title but then hit a glorious era that was dominated by the presence of the wonder skills of the Downey sisters Angela and Anne, who are currently involved in the backroom team of the redevelopment of Kilkenny camogie.

Galway know that they have the determination, skills and talents to bring the O’Duffy Cup back to Galway, and a solid performance on Saturday can at least put the Galway girls back into another All-Ireland final on 13 September in Croke Park.

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