Mayo get Cusack Park date for championship opener

Camogie: All Ireland Premier Junior Championship

On the road: The Mayo Camogie team will open their championship season in Cusack Park against Clare on Sunday. Photo: Inpho

On the road: The Mayo Camogie team will open their championship season in Cusack Park against Clare on Sunday. Photo: Inpho

By the time the final minutes of Mayo's first outing in the All Ireland Premier Junior Championship come around, the county's best camogie stars will have played in front of their biggest crowd ever.

Their championship opener against Clare has been placed on the undercard of the massive Munster Hurling Championship game between Clare and Waterford on Sunday afternoon, with Mayo facing their hosts at 2pm in the county grounds in Ennis.

The success story of the Mayo camogie team since they re-entered adult competition proper has continued apace this year, they claimed the division four title in the league, to go with the Nancy Murray Cup they won last year in their first year back in inter-county action.

Jimmy Lyons' side have been drawn in group two of the ten team All Ireland Premier Junior Championship, where they will face off against Waterford, Tipperary, Cavan and Clare - the three Munster sides will be represented by their counties junior sides in this championship, but are still going be a serious test for Mayo coming from such strong hurling counties.

It is going to be another learning curve for this Mayo side who are the only team who hurled in division four in the league to take part in this competition - with the other teams all playing their league action in divisions above where Mayo were operating.

This is a very young Mayo side, but having tasted success for the hard work they have put in over the last few years, they will be relishing the challenge of taking on sides that are perceived to be better than them in the championship.

They will be looking to the likes of Lisa Scahill from Westport who bagged 2-3 in their league final win, team captain Meabh Delaney who hit four points in that final from midfield, Rachel Lyons and Saoirse Delaney to be leaders for them up front; while at the back, Ava Lambert, Amy Mullein, Caoimhe Delaney and Aoibheann Crawley will all have to be on their toes to keep Clare at bay.

 

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