'We will focus on one game at a time' says Kildare camogie's Róisín Roche ahead of Championship start
The Lilywhites will get their Premier Junior All Ireland Championship when they travel to Armagh on Saturday, May 30
Kildare Camogie will embark on life in the Glen Dimplex Premier Junior All Ireland Championship when they travel to Armagh on Saturday next to take on the Orchard County in Round 1 of their 2026 campaign.
The Lilywhites were relegated from the Intermediate Championship at the end of 2025 and as well as Armagh they will face familiar foes in Roscommon, Wicklow, Tyrone and newcomers, Cavan in this year’s campaign.
Kildare faced the first four teams during their 2026 Division 3A Centra League campaign, a campaign that goalkeeper, Róisín Roche, described as “frustrating”.
Speaking at the launch of the Championship in Croke Park, the Naas player said, “We got good wins against Tyrone and Wicklow, but I think we probably never got that 60-minute performance. We showed patches of some really good stuff of what we can do but we just probably couldn't get it all together. In saying that, we only missed out on the League Final by score difference, so it's definitely something we want to build on now for the Championship.”
Roche believes there is more to come from the Lilywhites. “I think the talent is there, the work rate is there, it’s just we're still waiting for it all to click. Hopefully it will come with Championship and we'd be quite ambitious for it,” she said.
Kildare’s outing in the Leinster Championship last month was a challenging one as they faced a Westmeath side that were a little bit further down the road in development and although they suffered a 6-14 to 0-12 defeat to the midlanders, Roisin Roche felt that there were learnings for Kildare from that game.
PLAYED WELL
“In the first 15/20 minutes, we actually felt like we played quite well and it was pretty even. Then they got two goals on the bounce. We probably should have shut up shop before halftime,” she believed.
“I think we definitely took positives in terms of we actually did start quite well. I just learned in terms of structure, game plan and that kind of thing. It's always good to see the next level, that's where we want to be,” she added.
Róisín, who followed in her two sisters’ footsteps at Naas, started playing camogie around the age of four and would have enjoyed success at underage level with the club before moving on to the successful senior team. She had been involved with the Kildare set up previously, although, like her Naas teammates she wasn’t involved with the county in 2025.
The ’keeper was involved with Kildare at underage level up to and including minor. “I would have played pretty much the whole way up, U14 up to minor, and we'd a really good minor team there. We were hoping to win an All-Ireland and then Covid happened. I went into the senior panel when I was about maybe 19,” she explained.
Róisín Roche sees playing in the Premier Junior Championship is 2026 as an opportunity for Kildare to reset after a difficult period on and off the pitch.
“I think it was needed, we've had a few tough results and stuff the last couple years up in Intermediate and ultimately our goal is to get back up there,” she said. Consistency is what is needed now under new manager, Rob O’Neill, the goalkeeper believes.
“I think with the turnover in players and coaches, it's just about getting some consistency and cohesion and get back to winning games and build that confidence and try and keep that kind of player group together,” she continued. “Bring up the younger girls and just knit it all together while hopefully winning matches and build some momentum and get back up to Intermediate I think is part of the goal of a minute,” Roisin added.
Looking forward to the Championship the Physiotherapist in a practice in Kildare town with her mother, Geraldine, said of facing familiar foes from the League.
“It's kind of unique in Juniors, everyone playing the League and playing the Championship. We're away to Armagh in the first round, which will be tough, but we definitely feel all those games are winnable. You only have to win two or three to get into the semi-final but we'll definitely be targeting all of them.”
She felt the closeness of some of the League games was a good omen for the future. “I think while we didn't necessarily win all of them in the League, they were all close matches. We felt we definitely could have performed better in the Armagh and the Roscommon games. We will take one match at a time but we will be targeting wins in nearly all if not all of them, she added.
Having said that, Róisín Roche and her teammates will not be looking beyond this Saturday’s Round trip to The Orchard County.
“We'd love to be in Croke Park in August, but like you're getting ahead of yourself there. You have to take one game at a time. Maybe we got a bit ahead of ourselves in the League, thinking we wanted to be in the League final.
"It's good to be ambitious but at the end of the day we've got to win our games, which we didn't necessarily do. All focus will definitely be on the Armagh match and then just take it one game at a time,” she concluded.
Roll on the championship.