Camogie

Camogie (in Irish, "camógaíocht") is a Celtic team sport, organised by the Camogie Association of Ireland, the women's variant of hurling. The rules are almost identical to hurling with a few exceptions. One is that goalkeepers wear the same colours as outfield players and a player in camogie can handpass a score, which is not allowed in the men's game. All games last 60 minutes (senior inter-county hurling games last 70), and dropping the camogie stick to handpass the ball is permitted. The All-Ireland Final is held every year in Croke Park during September, usually the week between the hurling final and Gaelic football final. There are two main competitions; the National League which is staged during the winter-spring months and is used as a warm-up to the All-Ireland Championships during the summer.

It is played mainly in Ireland, the most successful counties being Cork, Kilkenny, Dublin and in more recent times, Tipperary.

Counties compete to win the O'Duffy Cup, awarded to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship. Dublin have won the most Camogie All-Ireland titles with 26, the last being in 1984. Kilkenny hold the record for the most successive Camogie titles with 7 victories between 1985 and 1991, their last title to date was won in 1994.

The champions for 2008 are Cork.

The name "camogie"

Camogie/hurling is unique in that it uses a different name for the version played by men and women. The reason is complicated: men play using a curved stick called in Irish a "camán". Women would use a shorter stick, called by the diminutive form "camóg". The suffix -"aíocht" was added to both words to give names for the sports: "camánaíocht" (which became "iománaíocht") and "camógaíocht". When the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded in 1884 the English-origin name "hurling" was given to the men's game. When an organisation for women was set up in 1904, it was decided to Anglicise the Irish name "camógaíocht" to "camogie".

Notable players

* Angela Downey
* Kathleen Mills
* Úna O'Connor

Team of the Century

Picked in 2004

#Eileen Duffy-O'Mahony (Dublin)
#Liz Neary (Kilkenny)
#Marie Costine-O Donovan (Cork)
#Mary Sinnott-Dinan (Wexford)
#Bridie Martin-Mc Garry (Kilkenny)
#Sandie Fitzgibbon (Cork)
#Margaret O Leary-Leacy (Wexford)
#Mairead McAtamney-Magill (Antrim)
#Linda Mellerick (Cork)
#Sophie Brack (Dublin)
#Kathleen Mills-Hill (Dublin)
#Una O Connor (Dublin)
#Pat Moloney-Lenihan (Cork)
#Deirdre Hughes (Tipperary)
#Angela Downey-Browne (Kilkenny)

Roll Of Honour

All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship

National Senior Camogie League

ee also

*Hurling
*Shinty

External links

* [http://www.camogie.ie Camogie.ie] Official Camogie Association Website
* [http://www.camogie.co.uk]