Croke Park awaits as Camross captain Aoife Collier describes 2025 journey as ‘a thing of dreams’

Camross skipper Aoife Collier is now just two weeks away from leading her team onto the biggest stage of all, with the club’s latest victory over Killimor securing their spot in the All-Ireland Intermediate Club final.

The chance to chase a third title in 2025 is not lost on her, and she described the achievement as something she once thought was beyond reach.

“A thing of dreams. I think we've looked at club games up there and thought, how could we ever get your club to Croke Park and to be there now in two weeks, it's just amazing,” she said.

The Camross captain also welcomed the benefit of having more breathing room before this semi-final, a luxury they rarely enjoyed during their Leinster campaign. She said the additional time helped them reset both physically and mentally.

“Absolutely, yeah, it's been really heavy for us for the last four weeks. Having that extra week, I suppose we didn't narrow ourselves, but again we met back, we got our recovery, and we went back into a tough session again and reset for another tough battle that we had out there,” Collier said.

Just as they did for the Leinster final, Camross lined out in Laois’ blue and white once again. Collier noted that choosing the alternative colours simply made things easier in what was always going to be a frantic contest.

“We're quite close in colour, obviously, that wasn't the original colours of Killimor either. I think they had an away jersey or something on them there today, but just for our own sake out there on the field, there's a lot going on, that's one less thing that we need to worry about,” she added.

Camross held the lead from the opening stages and never truly looked under threat, but Collier stressed that comfort is a dangerous feeling when a single goal can swing momentum in an instant.

“No, I don't think you can feel comfortable at any stage, to be honest, and a goal is only a puck of a ball. Like that, we reset at half-time again, as I said, we were only a goal down, they came back into it, and we did tire out. Everyone has a purple patch; we knew they would come back, and it's just keeping the heads right, I suppose, when that happens and thank God, we did,” Collier admitted.

And, echoing the sentiments of her manager, the Camross captain was blown away by the sea of support that descended on Trim. She’s certain those same voices will fill Croke Park when they take to the field again.

“Our support is unbelievable. We come from a small village, and I think every single one of them is out here today by the looks of it. Look, there's so much more than families and friends here, there's neighbours, there's family from every part of the country, they're all so good and have been throughout all of our competitions this year, so we look forward to hearing them in Croke Park by all means, I think we'll definitely hear them,” Collier concluded.

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