Meath camogie stalwarts bow out of inter-county fare

Meath camogie stalwarts of a glorious decade for the Royal County - Emily Mangan (now Emily Kelly) and Aoife Maguire announced their retirement from the inter-county game earlier this week

Both were pivotal members of the teams that claimed the All Ireland Junior title against Down at Croke Park in 2012 and the All Ireland Intermediate title in 2017 with a replay victory in Limerick against Cork..

Meath’s run in the 2020 All Ireland Intermediate championship was brought to a halt by Down at the semi final stage, but Aoife Maguire picked up the player-of-the-match award. She also helped her club Killyon to the intermediate title.

Emily Kelly (Mangan) has been the Meath custodian for more than a decade and she claimed a Soaring Star in 2017 while a week before the drawn 2017 All-Ireland Camogie final between Meath and Cork, Aoife Maguire was part of a four-strong team that finished second at the British Riding Club Championships in Lincoln.

Meath played in the senior camogie grade for 2018 and 2019 before dropping back to intermediate for 2020 after they lost a play-off against Wexford in August 2019.

LOOKING BACK

FIRST GAME IN DIVISION 1

Emily and Aoife were part of a history-making Meath team in February 2017 as reported by the Meath Chronicle.

A Meath team will venture into new territory on Saturday when the players run out on the pitch at Rathkeale to tackle hosts Limerick in the opening round of the National Camogie League Div 1.

This is a big year for both Meath camogie and the National Camogie Association with Littlewoods Ireland on board as the title sponsor of the National Camogie Leagues for the first time and with 26 teams set to compete across the divisions on Saturday and Sunday.

This is the first year that the Camogie Leagues have had a title sponsor with Littlewoods Ireland announcing their three-year backing last week.

Camogie Association president Catherine Neary said: “I am eagerly anticipating the start of the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues which are an important step for players to begin their inter-county season and provide an opportunity for emerging players to develop and establish themselves within their county team.”

For Meath, next Saturday’s game is a historic occasion as it will mark the Royal County’s first appearance in Div 1.

Manager John Davis will have to plan his new campaign without a number of key players including Kristina Troy, Aine Keogh and Aoife Thompson, three players who contributed enormously to the successes of the past two or three years.

However, there is an abundant supply of talented young players coming through from the under-age ranks and along with the more experienced players like Jane Dolan and Claire Coffey, the manager will have a relatively strong hand from which to pick his starting 15.

The standard is improving consistently and the evidence was visible last weekend when a number of Meath players were in action in the Purcell Cup for DIT and Maynooth University.

DIT had to dig deep before emerging victorious by 1-8 to 1-6 in a very tight final at Abbotstown against Maynooth.

DIT had to rely on their fighting qualities with the silverware on the line and it was Dunderry’s Aoife Minogue who was the top scorer with a tally of 1-6 while the Meath young sportsperson of the year Megan Thynne added the other two points.

Meath won the Div 2 title last year with a tremendous victory in the final against Galway at Birr, but the step up to the top grade will test the credentials of the team.

Survival in the top grade will be the first priority and the players will be aware of exactly what is required to achieve that after 60 minutes against Limerick at Rathkeale on Saturday.

Click on the link below for story and a video of the homecoming after the 2017 All-Ireland final win