Sunday's
Cork-Tipperary double header at FBD Semple Stadium feels like an opportunity not just for camogie, but for the Gaelic games family in general.
Tipperary’s scoring talisman, Eimear McGrath is relishing playing at one of the true meccas of sport when Ger Manley’s Rebels come to town for the first round of the Munster Championship (2pm throw-in).
Then, she will shower and change quickly, before finding a seat in the packed stadium to watch her first cousins, John and Noel – the current Hurler of the Year and a former Young Hurler of the Year respectively – go to battle for Liam Cahill’s champions in the 4pm repeat of last season’s remarkable All-Ireland final, as they get their provincial campaign under way.
The McGraths have always been immersed in Gaelic games. Eimear’s older sister Aoife is a former Tipp captain, recently returned to training with the Premier after a shoulder operation. Another cousin, Miriam Campion, played for blue and gold for many years.
With integration in train, such initiatives as the double headers involving male and female codes in the provinces are important signals, as were the press events that included female players.
Tipperary have made their own moves in that regard, with the county’s camogie and ladies football boards coming together to establish a streamlined fixtures programme to facilitate participation.
Now, with Tipp and Cork involved in both games on Sunday, meaning clubmates, acquaintances and indeed family are involved in each, the hope is that supporters for the full house might leave home an hour or two earlier to cheer on the warrior women representing their counties with the same pride, intent and ability as their male counterparts.
“Sunday is extra special for our family, with the lads involved in the hurling after as well,” says McGrath. “For us to have family involved in the both games is very special. And even just logistically, people aren’t having to pick going to one over the other. They like to see both and they’d be great to support us like that.
“It’s been great for us down through the years, going to Tipp matches and supporting the lads and seeing them have all the success they’ve had. Last year was extra-special, given the years previous hadn’t gone according to plan for then. In our own regard, that would be a source of inspiration for us, playing our own games. You want to do the same.
“It’s great that there are those family links and people can see them. And it’s not just us. The Stakelums are the same as ourselves, with people involved in both (Caoimhe, Conor and Darragh). It’s great for people to see the links and having the double headers is a great platform to show that maybe things aren’t so different between the two squads.
“Hopefully this exposure camogie is getting at the minute is a really positive step in terms of building support behind the team. In terms of integration, it’s been a great addition to the calendar and hopefully there’ll be more opportunities for it throughout the year, and please God there’ll be huge crowds of Tipperary supporters in Semple Stadium on Sunday to cheer us on”.
Tipp’s camogs are under new management this term, with James Heffernan stepping into the fold after Denis Kelly called time on his tenure after last year’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway. They mixed the good with the ordinary at times in the Centra Camogie League but encouragingly, finished strongly.
In the penultimate round, they came from eight points down to draw against Cork, McGrath unerring from three difficult frees in particular to help reduce the margin to manageable proportions, and Clodagh McIntyre hitting the equaliser. (McIntyre is another with strong hurling links, as her father and brothers are Lorrha stalwarts and her uncle, John, a former Tipp player and Galway and Offaly manager.)
They then trounced Waterford by 19 points and while recognising the Déise were not at full tilt, having qualified for the final already and giving game time to a number of panellists as a result, it illustrated a pleasing accuracy, pace and ruthlessness.
McGrath finished as one of the competition’s leading scorers with 1-25, even more notable for the fact that she missed the entire inter-county season in 2025 after tearing her ACL playing for Drom & Inch in a county quarter-final the previous October.
Recovery went well under the direction and healing hands of team physio, Ciara Gleeson, who has a particular interest in knee and ACL injuries, having had two complete ruptures as a teenage camogie player herself.
McGrath was back in the fold for the latter stages of the club championship, and though the step-up to inter-county was considerable, she never doubted her ability to come back once her conditioning was up to speed.
“My main concern was just getting back and getting my body right. I would always feel that my hurling is probably a strong point for me, that I would never have had to really work overly hard on that. I kind of always assumed, or hoped anyway, that that would come back eventually. Maybe for the first couple of matches back in pre-season with Tipp, that was a bit slow coming back. But bit by bit, I found it coming a bit more”.
Recently turned 25, McGrath teaches PE and Irish at Ursuline SS in Thurles, where she also coaches successfully, the school’s senior and junior squads completing a Munster Championship double earlier this year and reaching their respective All-Ireland finals.
It is a renowned nursery, with the aforementioned Caoimhe Stakelum the latest to progress to elite levels, despite still being a student at the secondary school. Sharing the dressing room with a pupil must be strange?
“It is and it isn’t, I suppose. The two things are quite separate in fairness. There’s no issues with Caoimhe. She’s a top talent and she’s like that, on and off the field”.
Unlike the hurling, the Munster Championship is not connected to the All-Ireland series in camogie. It is a standalone competition and winning it in 2023 was a day to remember for McGrath and her colleagues.
“There’s nothing to prepare you for (the All-Ireland) championship like good competitive games. So we’ll be really looking forward now to playing Cork on Sunday. We’re four weeks without a match so we’ll be champing at the bit to get going
“Any Tipperary hurler dreams of running out into Semple Stadium and we’re no different. I don’t think I have played in Semple Stadium since the Munster final in 2023. So you’d be looking forward to going in to play, and then with the hurling afterwards, it’s just such a great occasion. The Munster Championship is the pinnacle of hurling at the moment so we’re really looking forward to being a part of that, and for the Tipperary supporters to be there to cheer us on”.
