There’s a sign that appears in Camross on the big occasions.
Propped up in a ditch, on the side of the road, it looks like a home-made piece of art, painted in the famed black and amber colours with the words ‘Camross hurling. It’s in our blood’.
When you hear the word Camross, the first thing you think of is hurling. In Laois, it’s hard to think of one without the other.
Whether it’s an Féile team ready to set off to represent the club in some part of the country in the annual national competition, a camogie team or the men’s senior hurlers, they all get huge respect from the wider club and community.
Yesterday, they were crowned All Ireland intermediate club champions in Croke Park. It’s the first All Ireland – in either hurling or camogie – in the club’s proud history.
Prior to this year they had a couple of Leinster titles in both but never an All Ireland. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of their All Ireland senior club hurling final appearance in 1976, it will mark the 30th anniversary of their Leinster senior final success in 1996.
Given the amount of times they’ve represented Laois outside the county, it’s hard to believe as a club they’d only ever hurled once in Croke Park before, the 1986 Leinster club hurling final loss to Rathnure of Wexford.
That 1976 All Ireland final loss to the famed Glen Rovers of Cork was in Thurles.
This day will rank up there with the best of them. There may have been a small crowd in Croke Park as a whole for the double header of intermediate and senior club camogie finals yesterday but those who were there cared and cared deeply. They came from Camross in big numbers.
Manager Arien Delaney remarked in a pre-match interview last week on the Christmas lights glowing as they made their way to training every night in the run up to this game.
Captain Aoife Collier – who has now lifted Laois, Leinster and All Ireland trophies this year – said, in an emotional speech on the steps of the Hogan Stand, that they got together for the first time at the end of January. Never did they think that their season would go all the way to Croke Park ten days before Christmas.
And they deserved every bit of it. It was a wonderful occasion with so many little sideshows that made it special.
The Camross players getting a rapturous roar of approval from their supporters as they lined up to meet camogie president Brian Molloy; ACDC’s Thunderstruck blasting out over the PA system just before throw-in, Christmas songs at half time; an Aimee Collier point being approved by Hawk Eye, the heroic Sarah Anne Fitzgerald, who finished with 1-7, appearing on the big screen for an interview with her head bandaged.
And of course Collier’s speech, hitting all the right notes, touching on how honoured she was to be in that position representing her great community.
From start to finish it was a mighty performance all round. Niamh Dollard pulled off a remarkable early save to deny a goal that would have left them with a mountain to climb.
The full-back line of Mairead Burke, Aisling Burke and Fiona Scully adapted brilliantly after a testing opening quarter and didn’t put a foot wrong. Collier, Donnagh Mortimer and Ella Cuddy were outstanding on the half back line. Once Camross got ahead in the second half, that back six stood rock solid in every sense.
Aimee Collier hit three wonderful points from play – and along with a handful of her team-mates – can reflect on an incredible 2025 season that saw them win club and county honours in Croke Park.
Luisne Delaney worked herself to a standstill beside her as did Leah Daly while Grainne Delaney, Andrea Scully, Kirsten Keenan and the teenager Erin Walsh all scored valuable – and brilliant – points from play.
Fitzgerald, who spent a lot of the game around midfield, was imperious on frees, getting off the mark in the first half with one from beyond the half way line and adding five more over the course of the hour. She took her goal like a real sniper, added a point from play and has the war wound to show for it now too, forced off with a blood injury in the 51st minute but back on a couple of minutes later.
Sile Burke, Tara Lowry and Ava Guilfoyle were all called from the bench in those dying, nerve-wracking, minutes to see the job out.
Arien Delaney now has an All Ireland camogie title to go with his two senior hurling championships that he guided the club to. He’s also had a spell as club chairman.
Among those involved in the backroom were former or current Camross hurlers in Larry Cuddy, Martin Burke and Matthew Collier. Physio Alan Corbey and S&C Coach Jordan Donovan were brought across the border from Tipperary and Offaly for their expertise.
But as Aoife Collier was dishing out the Thank Yous, one of the biggest cheers was reserved for Laetitia Lyons-Delaney, whose role description was Mentor and Female Liaison Officer. You just know that they are just titles for someone who would do anything for anyone.
A hero’s welcome awaited in Camross last night, true to the traditions of the club.
To see those great names – Cuddys and Colliers, Dollards and Delaneys, Burkes, Scullys, Keenans – get their day in the sun in Croke Park is just reward for a club that just keeps on coming, keeps on giving to the games of hurling and camogie.
Camross hurling. It’s in their blood.
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