Rebels out to skin the Cats in revenge for September defeat

second fiddle.

Next Sunday Cork and Kilkenny will again go head to head, this time in the showpiece game of the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie League Division 1 at the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick.

The two top sides in the country made their way to this stage with Cork seeing off Limerick, while the Leinster side battled past a Galway side that had high hopes of taking their place in the league final.

The sides met earlier in the month in the Division 1 group stages with the girls in red and white taking the spoils on that occasion.

Kilkenny may have come out on the wrong side earlier in the month but with both the league and championship titles still residing in the black and amber trophy cabinet the title holders will not be far from pushovers this weekend.

Danielle Morrissey, Meighan Farrell, Miriam Walsh and Denise Gaule will all play big roles for Kilkenny next Sunday with all four capable of keeping the champions’ scoreboard ticking over.

Julie Ann Malone and Katie Power will likely also have a major say in this weekend’s fixture as Kilkenny will look to inflict a first league defeat of 2017 on this particular Cork side.

For the Rebels, the 2017 league campaign has been just what the doctor ordered after failing in the All-Ireland Final last season. That painful day may still hurt many in the Cork camp however all the players and backroom team seem to have been able to put that to one side and go in search of the year’s first silverware.

Cork have a host of really impressive names in their line-up, however, based on form this season players such as Julia White, Orla Cronin, Niamh McCarthy, Katrina Mackey, Amy O’Connor and the legendary Gemma O’Connor will all have a major say in the destination of this season’s title.

Cork have all the pedigree required to take the League title back from Kilkenny however the holders will be buoyed by some recent displays and will be intent on putting their best foot forward this time around.

Sunday’s game is obviously the culmination of what has been a pretty impressive league campaign for many sides so a good, competitive and hopefully an entertaining clash will not just do the respective sides well as they head into a very busy sporting period, but will also give another push to camogie as a whole.

The form book looks like this one will go the way of the Cork girls, however, it would be unwise to look past the reigning champions who have shown in the last twelve months that when their backs are to the wall they are more than capable of taking the spoils, regardless of who lines up against them.