Prendergast and Maher hoping to make final cut in style in Leinster camogie final

Dicksboro’s Aoife Prendergast will be shooting for glory in Sunday’s Leinster club senior camogie final – but in more ways than one.

The provincial showdown between the Kilkenny champions and Dublin’s St Vincent’s at Netwatch Cullen Park will see a member of each team wearing a player camera – Prendergast and Aisling Maher.

The players will wear a GPS-style vest under their jerseys, which will have a small hole cut for the camera to fit through and film in-game action. The footage captured will be edited for an episode of AIB’S Meet The Toughest series, which will be released online at the end of the month.

“It will be interesting to see the action the camera gathers,” says Prendergast. “We had a test shoot a few weeks ago, it’s similar to wearing a GPS, it’s comfortable and you wouldn’t even notice it once you are out on the pitch. So I’m looking forward to it and it will give an alternative point of view to supporters.

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“It will show the game from a different perspective and hopefully it will gather footage which will showcase the skill and physicality of the game.”

Maher believes the novel idea of using a player cam can have a positive impact for the promotion of the game to a wider audience.

“This camera is a great initiative for camogie,” says Maher. “It will help to show the intensity, the physicality and the skill of the game. The camera will help to elevate the profile of the game.”

Dicksboro will be hoping the cameras also captures history on Sunday as they aim to win a first Leinster senior club camogie title. They lost the 2021 final to Oulart-The Ballagh while St Vincent’s are the reigning provincial champions – the Marino outfit thwarting Oulart’s three-in-a-row bid last November.

Dicksboro and St Vincent’s played each other in a challenge game last summer but Sunday’s clash will be the first time these players have met in competitive action. St Vincent’s came up short in their All-Ireland bid last year, losing at the semi-final stages to Sarsfields – who progressed to win the title.

“St Vincent’s are a great team and they are a very experienced side as well,” adds Prendergast, who captained Kilkenny to All-Ireland glory in 2022.

“They are the reigning Leinster champions, so we are hoping to get the best performance we can on Sunday because we know we are going to need a great performance to get over the line. They have some brilliant players, so we’ll need to be at our very best.

“Our main focus all year was to just try get out of Kilkenny because it’s so competitive, we were delighted to win Kilkenny and only then turned our focus to Leinster.”

Dicksboro beat Wexford’s St Martin’s in a provincial semi-final two weeks ago, with Prendergast registering eight frees in a 1-10 to 0-8 win.

Vinnies were comfortable 3-13 to 0-5 victors over Birr in their semi-final. Maher was outstanding on the day, scoring 1-8 (1-2 from play) and also creating several scores for her team-mates.

“Semi-finals are for winning,” adds Maher. “There were aspects of our performance against Birr that were good but also things that we need to improve on. We’ll need to step it up again if we are to get over Dicksboro.”

Prendergast is a key player for Dicksboro, and if they are to get over the line on Sunday then they will need her to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

A talented all-rounder, she played soccer with Wexford Youths in the past and was also a keen swimmer and hockey player. However, a cruciate knee injury in 2017 interrupted her sporting career and when she returned Prendergast decided to focus all her energies on camogie.

“It has been all good since, thankfully,” says Prendergast. “It’s probably an injury that drove me on to be honest, I might not be where I am now if I didn’t do it, I don’t know that for certain, but afterwards I just kind of put my focus on camogie then.

“I got to work on different aspects of my game which were probably weaker and I probably hadn’t dedicated as much time to them prior to my injury.”