Kerry captain Patrice Diggin says she would love to get a chance to play at senior level if they can win Sunday’s All-Ireland intermediate camogie final against Offaly.
With Kerry one game away from playing at the top level, Diggin says her side are at a crossroads.
“We really do have to take the opportunity when it comes. We would love to get up to senior and give it a go, and see where we really are at.
“A few of us are pushing on, it gets harder and harder every year as you’re getting older. I suppose if we lose on Sunday, it’s going to be a hard place to come back to next year.”
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However, a tough Offaly side stands in their way, the Faithful County having pipped Antrim in the semi-final by a point.
Diggin says her side are totally focused on Sunday, rather than the possibilities that a win could open up.
“We’re not really a team to think, to dwell”, she explains. “When you’re in the final your focus is on that match, on Offaly. The 60 minutes is your focus and you have to hope that at the end you’re on the right side of it.
“You try to just ignore all the external factors, because if you’re thinking about that you’re not thinking about the game.”
Kerry beat down in their semi-final, the Ulster county having been relegated from senior last year, while Offaly triumphed over last year’s the other demoted side, Antrim.
Diggin believes the standard of the intermediate championship is high, with little to separate the teams.
“The other teams that are intermediate, any one could have been here probably because there’s only a puck of a ball between us.
“Last year we were probably unlucky to lose the semi-final to Kilkenny. We probably felt like we should have done it in normal time and were pipped.”
Diggin has very good memories of Croke Park, having been player of the match in the Kingdom’s 2019 junior triumph, their first such title.
She has also led her club, Clanmaurice, to two All-Ireland intermediate titles in 2023 and 2024.
Speaking at Croke Park on Tuesday ahead of the weekend’s triple header at GAA HQ, Diggin admits she’s chomping at the bit for Sunday: “I’ve been looking out on to the pitch and just wanting to get out there now and start the game if possible.”
With the semi-finals played four weeks ago, both teams have had a chance to recover and build back up for the decider, but Diggin laughs that the month off might actually have been too long a break.
“You’d nearly have forgotten that you’re in an All-Ireland final,” she jokes, “but you have to, otherwise your head would be completely fried.
“We’ve trained hard the last two weeks, and last weekend then, Sunday morning, you realise that was your last Sunday morning session. So, yeah, it’s a great time for the team.”
