Disappointing year for Kilkenny camogie

Dicksboro’s senior All-Ireland club championship victory was, by some distance, the main highlight on the camogie front in 2023 after the senior county team failed to live up to the highs of the previous season.

After winning two All-Ireland senior titles in three years, the Cats were looking to win the O’Duffy Cup for back to back seasons but right from the early few weeks of the campaign, the writing was somewhat on the wall.

Miriam Walsh was in the form of her life when she played a major role in helping Kilkenny to the 2022 All-Ireland success and she was rewarded with the player of the year award.

The Tullaroan attacker then got married in the off-season and just after her honeymoon, she went down with a season ending cruciate ligament injury - the same fate Danielle Morrissey suffered a few weeks later.

Add in Mary O’Connell going travelling and the Cats were certainly weakened in different areas even if manager Brian Dowling changed things around with his squad.

The year was definitely a slow-burner as the Noresiders lost their opening league game to Clare before failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.

An expected Leinster title soon followed before championship games with Wexford, Tipperary and Dublin.

Despite playing host to both Wexford and Tipperary in UPMC Nowlan Park the Cats could only muster two draws from the home games with their victory over the Dubs ensuring they advanced to the quarter-finals.

It was old rivals Cork who lay in wait at Croke Park and the two teams played out a thrilling clash as Kilkenny produced their best display of the season.

Helped by an early goal from Aoife Prendergast, Kilkenny made all the early running but the Rebels weren’t down for long.

The Leesiders soon took command and it required a 1-10 tally from Denise Gaule to keep the Cats in touch even if they just fell up short as they lost out by a point to the subsequent All-Ireland winners.

A few days later Brian Dowling resigned from his post as Kilkenny senior manager, but he won’t be the only big loss to the team ahead of the new season. Denise Gaule was the sole Kilkenny representative on the All-Stars team - Grace Walsh and Claire Phelan were also nominated - but she has since left for Australia and will be a big loss for at least the early part of 2024.

Despite this confidence is still high in the black and amber ranks. There’s still the nucleus of a fine team there - with a bit of luck they will bounce back to their best.