Wicklow's Junior camogie team travelled to Cavan on Saturday 5th May to play in the Division 5 All Ireland league blitz. The girls made a flying start by beating Mayo on an impressive scoreline of 5-16 to 0-2. The second match against the host team Cavan, proved a more equal affair and with only two minutes to go the girls were trailing by a point. However a brilliantly taken point by Mary Whelan from Donard/Glen club levelled the game and the match finished all square at 1-4 each.. This drawn game was to prove very costly to Wicklow in the end. Their third game was against Monaghan and by now legs were beginning to tire. The wind which had blown strongly all day had not abated but Wicklow were lucky to win the toss and playing with the wind went in at the break 5 points ahead. The second half had some heart stopping moments as Monaghan managed to get a goal back, it was an end to end affair from there on but thankfully Wicklow's defence held firm with Orlaith Donnelly, Sinead Whyte and Rosanna Keogh to the fore in defence and goalie Lynsey Walshe making some spectacular saves. The game finished with a winning margin of 2 points to Wicklow. Fourth match of the day came all too quickly and even though games were 15 minutes a side, by now most girls had played over an hour and a half of camogie at a furious pace. Tyrone had not lost a match all day and they did not intend to lose this one either, they were leading by 5 points at half time and stretched the lead to easily take the game in the second half. Tyrone had secured their place in the final but who would be their opponents? Cavan and Wicklow had ended equal on points and even though score difference would have been the obvious way to separate the sides (and Wicklow had managed the highest score of the day ) the powers that be had decided that 45m frees would be taken to determine who would go into the final. If this seems a cruel way to decide the fate of a team attempting to play in their first All Ireland Final it certainly proved to be as nerves played a part for Wicklow and Cavan went through scoring all three frees. In the final Tyrone struggled against a valiant Cavan side but held on to win by only a few points in a highly entertaining game. All teams and mentors were then treated to a slap up meal in a local hotel before heading on the long journey home. Compliments must go to the host county Cavan for the excellent way they ran the day with liaison people being assigned to each team and tea, coffee , sandwiches and refreshments readily available all day. Wicklow girls have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of, they competed bravely all day with each girl on the panel playing her part in making this such an enjoyable day and they can now look forward to representing their county again in the Under 18 league final blitz on July 5th and again in the Junior Championship on August 30th in Tyrone. Just a note on that - if anyone out there would like to provide some sponsorship for the teams it would be greatly appreciated as the team will have to stay overnight in Tyrone, it would simply be too far to travel and then play matches all day, also it would be great to see the girls kitted out in new gear as they proudly represent their county. Please contact Wicklow Co Board if you feel you want to help. The panel of players who travelled to Cavan are as follows: Lynsey Walshe (Donard/Glen), Rita O'Toole, Susan O'Toole (Kilcoole) Kellie Byrne (Knockananna) Jessica Lifely, Fiona Mcallister (Annacurra)Frances Kearns, Nicky Keddy (Kilcoole), Rosanna Keogh, Sinead Fisher (Kiltegan), Sinead Byrne, Clare Byrne (Knockananna) Pamela Maher (Glenealy), Orlaith Donnelly, Niamh Donnelly, Jessica Morrissey (Kilcoole), Karen Walshe, Geraldine Norton, Sinead Whyte, Mary Whelan, Sile Whelan, Andrea Kealy (Donard/Glen) Trainer: Liz O'Donoghue Byrne, Manager: Kathleen McAllister, Selector: Mary Byrne, Liasion: Marian Whyte, Physio/First Aid: Bridie O'Neill Tweet

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