Deirdre Hughes is a former camogie

Camogie

Camogie is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women; it is almost identical to the game of hurling played by men. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and world wide, largely among Irish communities....

 player selected on the camogie team of the century in 2004, and winner of All Ireland medals in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003.

Background

She came to prominence when Toomevara won the Tipperary County Minor championship three years in a row, and won six successive senior county championships. She was a prominent member of the Tipperary team that won the Junior All Ireland

All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship

The All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship is the most important competition for third-tier county teams in the women’s field sport of camogie. In accordance with the practice in GAA competitions the term junior applies to the level of competition rather than the age group...

 in 1991 and captained the Intermediate team

All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship

The All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Championship is the most important competition in the women’s field sport of camogie for second-tier county teams and for second-string teams of first-tier counties. If the winning team comes from a second-tier county, that county is promoted to the following...

 to All Ireland success in 1997. She won eight successive Gael Linn Cup

Gael Linn Cup

The Gael Linn Cup is a bi-ennial tournament in the Irish sport of camogie contested by Ireland’s fuur provincial teams. Currently played at senior and junior level on alternate years. The tournament has existed in various guides since 1956, is played at senior and junior level on alternate years...

 inter-provincial medals with Munster.

Breakthrough

In 1999 when Tipperary made the long awaited break through and won the O'Duffy Cup

O'Duffy Cup

The All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship is the premier round-robin and knock-out competition in the game of camogie played in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Camogie Association and are played during the summer months with the All-Ireland Camogie Final being played on the...

 she won the RTE

Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...

 “Player of the Match”

The Sunday Game

The Sunday Game is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's main Gaelic games television programme. It is shown on RTÉ Two every Sunday during the Football Championship and Hurling Championship seasons. It is one of RTÉ Two’s longest-running shows, having been on air since 1979, one year after the channel first...

. Among her most dramatic scores as the equalising point against Cork two minutes into injury time of the 2001 All Ireland semi-final in Mulingar. She scored both of Tipperary’s goals in that match.

Awards

She won the Jury’s/Independent Sports Star of the Week and Munster GAA Council Camogie Player of the Year in 1999, the Jury’s/Independent Sports Star Award and “ The Star Player of the Match” after the 2001 All Ireland and was selected on first ever All Star Lynchpins Camogie team, a predecessor the official All Stars in 2003 before winning an official All Star award in 2004.

Citation

Her team of the century citation read: “a brilliant individual player she is also the quintessential team player. She is a great playmaker, always ready to give or take a pass and give encouragement to those around her. Quick to turn, she can lose her marker in a second. A prolific scorer, when she moves goal wards she causes havoc. One of the most popular and respected of the modern day stars; she was the only current inter-county player to be chosen on the team.

External links

• Camogie.ie Official Camogie Association Website
• Team of the Century on Camogie.ie website
• On The Ball Official Camogie Magazine Issue 1 and issue 2
• Historic newspaper reports of All Ireland finals
• County and provincial websites: Antrim
• History of Camogie slideshow. presented by Cumann Camógaíochta Communications Committee at GAA Museum January 25, 2010 part one, part two, part three and part four
• Camogie on official GAA website
• Timeline: History of Camogie
• Camogie on GAA Oral History Project
• County and provincial websites: Antrim Armagh Clare Connacht Cork Derry Down Dublin Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Leinster Limerick London Louth Meath Munster North America Offaly Tipperary Ulster Waterford Wexford Wicklow