KAREN KENNEDY IS confident that Tipperary have the capability to smash through their All-Ireland camogie semi-final glass ceiling.
The Munster champions have made it through to the last four for the fifth time in six seasons but they’re still awaiting that big breakthrough.
Tipp’s last All-Ireland semi-final win came way back in 2006 with the county contesting six semis since and losing the lot.
The draw for the Glen Dimplex sponsored semi-finals was relatively kind to Tipp as it pitted them against Waterford, who haven’t reached a final themselves since 1945.
Heavyweight duo Cork and Galway will meet in Saturday’s other semi-final in a UPMC Nowlan Park double header.
Ex-All-Star defender Kennedy said the 2023 season so far has been her most enjoyable yet, praising boss Denis Kelly for taking standards ‘to a new level’.
She’s hopeful that this will translate into a landmark win over the Deise.
“There’s huge belief there this year,” said Kennedy. “I think that’s a huge thing for us coming into a game like this. Other years there has been a lot of talk about, ‘Can they do it?’ I don’t know even in other years if there was the belief that we could push on but I think this year there is huge belief that we can make the step to the final and even win it hopefully. I think personally we have it within the group to do it. So hopefully we get it out on the day.”
Tipp came up just shy of a league final spot but bounced back with a strong provincial campaign, beating Clare in the decider to claim a first title in 13 years.
Interestingly, they beat Waterford at the semi-final stage, firing four goals beyond Sean Power’s side.
“We’ve met Waterford a lot of times over the last few years,” said Tipp joint-captain Kennedy. “They’re an unbelievable team, very tough to play against. We obviously came out the wrong side of it last year against them in the Championship. That was in the group stage. We needed to win to progress.”
That failure to advance to the knock-out stages forced Kennedy and the Tipp players to look inwards and to ask hard questions ahead of 2023.
“I suppose people wanted to make a point because after last year there were question marks about this group and if we would be back and what kind of resilience we would show to get back from that,” said Kennedy.
“But I think so far it’s been good and hopefully we can push on in the semi. It’s been a good response from last year, we’ve definitely upped standards and it’s shown on the field.”
Kennedy is aware of the threat of Waterford’s prolific attacker Beth Carton who struck 3-31 in the group games alone.
But Tipp have their own incisive attack with Cait Devane firing 2-6 in their quarter-final demolition of Antrim.
“She’s unbelievable, it’s amazing to play with her,” said Kennedy of colleague Devane. “She’s just a real professional in the way she goes about everything, just a real leader in the team.
“There are a lot of leaders there. We’ve kind of set levels that we know are acceptable to us and if we’re not hitting them, we’ll pull eachother up on it.
“The management have put the onus back on us at times that we know the standards we need to hit and to push on if we’re not hitting them.
“So it’s on us to step up in training. So there are leaders across the whole team who are going to step up and call you out if you’re not pulling your weight in training. That’s hugely important. It’s player driven a lot.”
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