Croke peak scaled for Clonduff Camógs - BBC News
Why does it mean so much when the parish camogie team becomes champions of Ireland?
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Two teams battle for more than 70 minutes.

A whistle blows, a moment of disbelief, then one team explodes in ecstasy, the other collapses in despair.

That's exactly what happened last Sunday as south Down camogie side Clonduff held on, just, to defeat Waterford club Gailltír to win the All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Club Championship final.

The final score in Croke Park in Dublin was Clonduff 0-10, Gailltír 0-09.

Clonduff captain Paula Gribben was the hero, firing over six points to help the 'Yellas' win the title for the first time.

Sara-Louise Carr popped over three points and her sister Fionnuala added the other score, a shot so impressive it went viral on Twitter.

Their father, Ross Carr, a two times all-Ireland Gaelic football winner with Down, tweeted that Sunday was the "greatest day" of his life.

But why did it mean so much?

For Sara-Louise Carr, it was because the win brought "so much happiness" to the whole local community.

Clonduff's "dream came true" with their win in Croke Park

Paula Gribben says being the first Clonduff team to play in Croke Park made it a special and historical event with the team feeling the whole community willing them on.

Clonduff remains bedecked in bunting, flags and posters in support of the team.

The club fields no less than six sets of sisters - the Gribbens, (Karen and Paula), the Carrs (Fionnuala & Sara-Louise), the Fitzpatricks (Cassie & Beth), the McGilligans (Clare & Katie), the Wilsons (Lizzie & Hannah) and Livelys (Ellen & Erin).

"Win, lose or draw, you always have each others' back," Paula says of her sister Karen.

"When the final whistle blows, it's one of the first people you go to find."

Sara-Louise and Fionnuala acknowledge that they are competitive, but say they also advise each other.

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Katie and Clare McGilligan are the daughters of club chair Guinevra and team manager Alastair, and are cousins of the Carr sisters.

Being sisters just made the victory extra special, they say.

They describe the experience as simply "class" with the community's reactions making the team feel like "royalty".

Beth and Cassie Fitzpatrick say their feelings are indescribable, adding it was a very proud day for their parents and wider family.

"When the game was over and you looked up into the stand, men, women and children were crying, it was unbelievable."

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Paula Gribben, reluctantly, admits that the camogie team has been more successful than Clonduff's male teams but was at pains to point out that all of the club's teams back each other.

She acknowledges that her team are now role models.

"You're a player your whole life, you look up to other people and other people inspire you," Paula says.

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"You never think that you're going to be someone else's inspiration.

"But after Sunday, you realise we are role models for six, seven, eight year olds coming through.

"Success drives interest, I think with the success of this camogie, it will get a lot more families, a lot more girls involved," she says.

Fionnuala Carr echoed those thoughts, saying that a player only has a short period of time on the pitch, and it was important to inspire a new generation.

Orla Morgan, a Clonduff player for 27 years, missed out on the final due to a problem not encountered by male sports people.

She found out she was eight-weeks pregnant four weeks after the Ulster final, ruling her out of contention.

"It's part of female sporting life," she says.

Karen Gribben, who has three children, including a six-month-old, says pregnancy is a reality in women's sport, but that mothers can continue to play.

The whole club is one big happy family, she says, but one of the first people she met on the pitch after the final whistle was her nine-year-old son Jimmy, who had run out looking for his mum.

Clonduff Camogie club was first formed in 1951 but folded after a short time before reforming in 1967.

It fields teams at all levels from under-sixes to to seniors.

The level a team plays at club level is dictated by the level its county plays.

Down play at Intermediate level and were in the All-Ireland Intermediate final in 2018 with 10 Clonduff players on the panel.

The word camogie comes from the Irish camógaíocht and refers to the act of wielding the camogie stick, or hurl, 'the little bend'.

The game is very similar to its male equivalent, hurling, and is considered one of Ireland's Gaelic games.

Hurling has ancient origins and is closely related to its Scottish and Manx cousins, shinty and cammag.

The modern game of camogie is regulated by the Camogie Association, founded in 1904.

The consensus seems to be that 'three-in-a-row' is the now the team's aim.

Although it is understood that the girls intend to take a "few more weeks off" to engage in some "team-bonding" activities.

Clonduff GAA fields no less than 23 teams across hurling, Gaelic football and camogie as well as supporting the area's handballers.

The village of Hilltown, the only one in Clonduff, has expanded rapidly in recent years but many of its young people still feel that a life overseas is a better option.

Clonduff people and their descendents are found all over the world - many of whom follow and support their home club from afar.

Clonduff also takes an active part in the GAA's cultural competition, the Scór.

Local girl Aoife Trainor is currently the young All-Ireland champion in solo singing.

She won the title singing 'Slán Abhaile' (safe home) in memory of her six-year-old sister who died following a car crash near Newry in 2016.

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. 'Legendary' Slaughtneil achievement is 'the stuff of dreams'

Clonduff was not the only Ulster camogie team to win an All-Ireland title on Sunday. Slaughtneill, another club with huge importance to its community, won the senior championship.

Tina Hannon hit 1-6 to secure Slaughtneill's third straight senior club title by defeating St Martin's 1-9 to 0-7 in the final.

In 2016, Slaughtneil became the first club to win provincial titles in Gaelic football, hurling and camogie in the same year.

The club did it again in 2017 with the senior teams clinching provincial success in all three codes.