All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship
WHEN Down won the All-Ireland Intermediate title in December, there wasn’t a Savage on the team sheet.
Yet three weeks ago when they faced Cork in the second round of the senior championship there were three Savage sisters in defence and another one, Aoife, on the bench.
Ironically the last time three of the sisters from Ballygalget played together on the Down team was also against Cork three years ago when they lost to the Rebelettes in the intermediate final in Croke Park.
Deirbhile was the first of the siblings to feature this year when she wore the No 11 jersey against Antrim in the first round of the league in Portglenone.
“There were different reasons why we didn’t play last year,” explains the teacher in St Comgall’s Primary School in Bangor.
“Covid, travelling and work commitments meant that in the end none of us could actually commit to the team and we all understood that commitment was needed to win the All-Ireland.”
As the autumn unfolded the Savage sisters watched the Down games on stream.
“We were absolutely delighted with how things went and I suppose there was a bit of regret as well that we couldn’t be involved, because we had been there for a few years and losing to Cork in Croke Park and then again to Westmeath the next year, well they were tough to take.”
However, manager Derek Dunne kept in touch and this season the sisters from the foot of the Ards peninsula found themselves filtering back into the team.
“I got my chance in the first game when Derek was trying a few things out during the league. So I moved from centre-forward to midfield and have ended up in defence.
“Blanaid then came in and the two of us were in defence when we won the Ulster championship in Armagh last month. Then Alannah got her chance against Cork.”
A fourth sister, Aoife, has been starring for the Down reserve team and has now also won a place in the senior panel for the relegation battle with Offaly in Kingspan Breffni tomorrow.
“Aoife married Down hurler Danny Toner two days after the Ulster final and we had the camogie trophies at the reception. Hurling and camogie plays a big part in life round our area," said Deirbhile.
And a fifth sister, Saerlaith, has broken through on to the Ballygalget senior team over the past year.
Deirbhile has noticed a big change in the training and preparation compared to a few years ago.
“It has changed so much. Training is so intense and, if you get a start in the team, you know someone else is working really hard to take it off you. We never would have had 30 plus players in the past all working so hard to get playing.
“The management team is so committed and organised. A couple of years ago we wouldn’t have been doing strength and conditioning at the level we are doing it now. We do in-depth video analysis and look very closely at our opponents.
“I suppose that was one spin-off from Covid. Games are being streamed and we can analyse players more. But those are things you have to do at senior level and we are looking to get the small margins now.
“We were very unlucky in our three senior championship games last month. We lost two of them by a point and the other by six points to Cork who are contenders for the All-Ireland every year.
“We are telling ourselves that we could have, should have won one of those games. We are that close at the moment, but we haven’t made the small margins count yet."
