All Ireland Camogie Championships Previews- Tipperary pose challenge on the double for Senior and Intermediates

Saturday 2nd July 2016 
Liberty Insurance Senior Camogie Championship Group 2 
Tipperary vs Kilkenny 
Venue: Semple Stadium 2.30pm Referee: John Dolan

The Kilkenny senior team will hope to make it three wins from three when they travel to Semple Stadium in Thurles to take on Tipperary in a repeat of this years League semi final where Kilkenny edged the Premier after extra time.

Kilkenny backed up a good opening round win over Derry (5-24 to 2-03) with an eight point win over Dublin (2-12 to 0-10).  Tipperary are a team that are after making great strides in 2016. From the low ebb that they finished 2015 to progress through to the League semi final this season shows a team that are full of confidence and will be very difficult to beat.

They began the year with a defeat to Galway in there opening game 3-07 to 0-05. In there second game Wexford edged them out 0-13 points to 0-09.  From these opening defeats Tipperary began to gather momentum and recorded a 2-11 to 2-08 victory over Clare in the third round.  They backed this victory up with a 2-09 to 1-09 victory over Offaly. In there final game they recorded a good victory over Dublin 2-12 to 1-06. This victory set up a semi final place with Kilkenny where they came up short to Saturday’s opponents 2-13 to 0-15.  In the Munster Championship Munster and All Ireland championship proved too strong for the Premier 2-17 to 1-10 in the semi final.

In the opening game of the All Ireland series they just came up short to Galway 1-13 to 1-10, but bounced back with a good 3-19 to 1-06 victory over Derry last weekend.

Tipperary have some talented players among there ranks with Nicole Walsh, Jenny Grace, Shauna Quirke, Ereena Fryday, and Sarah Fryday bringing there good league form into the All Ireland series.

I feel Tipperary will provide a stern test for Kilkenny on Saturday. I feel Kilkenny are building good momentum and might proved a bit too strong for strong the Tipperary side, but I expect a real tough battle with the added bite of a local derby to look forward too.

Saturday 2nd July 2016 
Liberty Insurance Intermediate Camogie Championship Group 1
Kilkenny vs Tipperary
Venue: Danesfort 2.30pm Referee: Aiden O Brien

The Kilkenny Intermediate team will hope to begin there All Ireland campaign with a bang when they entertain Tipperary in Danesfort on Saturday.

The team have being going well in recent challenge matches and training and will hope to get the campaign off to a bright start with a home victory and claim the opening points of the series.  They were disappointed with the way they exited the Leinster championship after Carlow edged the Cats out with a late surge of scores to secure the Leinster final berth with Meath and will be gunning to get back into competitive action with a local derby with Tipperary.

It is hard to find out about the Tipperary side that Kilkenny will face on Saturday as they didn’t compete in the league earlier in the year, but with any team that comes from Tipperary, Kilkenny can expect them to be well drilled and prepared for battle.

I feel this young Kilkenny side is building great momentum all year. They have put in some impressive displays and as a result of this I feel Kilkenny may prove too strong for the Premier on Saturday to claim the opening spoils.