Captain Pauline McCarthy Captain Kathleen Tonks | Runners-up Buffers Alley (Wx) | |
Winners Ballyagran (Limerick) (1st title) | ||
The 1978 All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie Championship for the leading clubs in the women's team field sport of camogie was won by Ballyagran of Limerick, who defeated Buffers Alley from Wexford in the final, played at Monamolin. It was the last club final to be played with the second crossbar, the "points bar," as per the rules of the game as amended by Congress in 1929.
Contents
Arrangements
The championship was organised on the traditional provincial system used in Gaelic Games since the 1880s, with Portglenone defeating Swatragh in the Ulster final (with former Ahane player Vera Mackey on their side) and Athenry winning the Connacht championship. In Munster Ballyagran defeated Éire Óg from Cork and then got a bye from the Tipperary champions. They then staged a great second half recovery against Portglenone, who led 2–4 to 0–1 by half-time, to win the semi-final. Every member of the Buffers Alley team had played inter county players at senior or junior grade.
The Final
The scale of the Ballyagran victory was unexpected, a five-point margin in one of the lowest scoring finals.
Agnes Hourigan wrote in the Irish Press:
Ballyagran scored an unexpectedly easy victory over Buffers Alley. Six of the Ballyagran team were on the Limerick senior team which won Al-Ireland junior medals in 1977, and five of the team played in the 1978 National Camogie League final, goalie Helen Butler, Pauline McCarthy, the O'Brien sister Geraldine and Bernadette and Liz Hayes.