Ballygarvan girls eyeing return to Camogie’s Top Table

Ballygarvan are eyeing a return to the ranks of the senior camogie grade as they face Ballincollig in the upcoming SeSystems Premier Intermediate Camogie final at Castleroad on Saturday next at 3.30pm.

It’s been an impressive year for the South County outfit, and their victory in the semi-final against a fancied Ballinhassig side underlined their determination to return to the senior ranks.

For Bainisteoir Paudie O’Brien, the girls’ application to their task has impressed him since arriving pitch-side last November.

‘Their attitude is top class, they will never stop, they will never give up, and they constantly train,’ he said.

‘Their attitude to the whole thing has been brilliant.’

Obviously looking forward to Saturday, the Midleton man suggests it will be anyone’s game and very hard to call, but his side will be up for it.

‘We are delighted to be as far as we are and we are going to give it everything we can to try and win it now.’#

When asked who is going to be favourites, Paudie said, ‘Look we don’t know who is going to be favourites, there is going to be very little in it.’

‘Whoever wins it is going to deserve to win it. As we both came through hard routes, the two best teams are in the final and let the best team come out on top.’

Having played each other in the league, where Ballygarvan came out on top by a couple of points, Paudie said, ‘There was nothing in that game.’

A club up and running since the late ’80s, Ballygarvan has produced some outstanding players. Included in that list were Eimear Dillon, Jennifer Browne and Sarah O’Donovan.

The latest off the Ballygarvan conveyor belt is Lizzy O’Regan, who is making a positive recovery from injury.

Unfortunately, it has kept her sidelined from both the county and club scene in 2025 — a notable absence in Cork’s recent defeat to Galway in the All-Ireland decider.

She admits Saturday will be a tough watch and she’ll hit every sliotar with the girls.

‘You play through the girls, it’s ten times worse watching it than playing,’ she said.

‘When you are playing you go into your own world and you forget about the match, so it’s very different playing.

‘All we can do is drive them on, there is a great group down here, great morale, fingers crossed it goes our way.’

Having produced great performances against local rivals Ballinhassig and Enniskeane, Lizzy believes it will stand to them.

‘Those performances were hard fought, we didn’t get any of them easy,’ she said.

‘Those are games where the girls have to step up, and they all come together. It has been very evident this year when we came out on top in games with tight margins.’

As for the outcome, Lizzy believes it is going to be very close.

However, she believes the girls have been building on their performances — but it is a matter of wait and see.

Ballygarvan Camogie Outfit on their last training session before Saturday's big showdown