“We’re not going to be hunted. We want to be the team that is hunting”

THAT attitude of being the hunter rather than the hunted was key for St Jude’s in them retaining their Senior One Camogie Championship crown on Sunday, as they ran out out 1-14 to 0-15 winners over St Vincent’s in the decider in Abbotstown.

The Templeogue side are now back-to-back county champions, and have won three top-tier titles in the last four seasons.

“We won the Senior One in 2018 and then lost 2019, so we came into last year feeling like we had a point to prove, that it wasn’t just a fluke,” St Jude’s assistant manager, Marion O’Donnell, told The Echo.

“Winning it then last year was amazing, especially over Vinnies.

“Donie Fox, the manager, was saying at the start of this year, ‘what is the motivation?’ because we needed to have that fire in our bellies again.

“We had decided that we’re not going to be hunted. We want to be the team that is hunting down teams, hunting for that trophy for the second year in-a-row.

“We realised that we can’t have the mentality that we’re at the top being hunted, so we didn’t.

“When you look at the final this year, we started on the back foot, going into the first water break two-points down.

“At that water break, no one panicked. It was just get back out there and do the same again. It was like as if we all knew something was coming.

“We scored five in that second quarter. Now we were still down by one at half-time, but it showed that we had more to give.

“Hannah Begley came off the bench then and scored that goal, and we started to build momentum from there.

“It was touch-and-go the whole time, but it’s a testament to how strong our backs are and it’s a testament to that team, that they turned it on when it mattered.”

Indeed, the addition of Hannah Begley after the break was key in swinging the momentum back in Jude’s favour with the forward bagging 1-1 from play.

When Leah Butler, who was operating at wing-back instead of midfield, struck over in the final quarter, it pushed their lead out to three.

In those final exchanges, the game teetered on a knife edge, but the resolute Jude’s defence held firm to see out the win.

Claire Gannon, who ultimately claimed Player of the Match, was key in the backline alongside Emily Browne and Hannah Hegarty throughout the whole encounter.

Butler had her work cut out at wing-back too, marking St Vincent’s sharpshooter Aisling Maher to great effect.

Down the other end of the field, Claire’s twin sister Aisling Gannon bagged a brace of points while the eldest Gannon, Niamh, who is still just 20, slotted a single between the posts.

Sinead Nolan tallied 0-6, five of which were from the dead ball, while the energetic Caragh Dawson hit 0-3 from play to help see off the dogged Marino outfit.