TO WIN a big game, like the All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny, you need your side to perform at a high level. When two of your most dangerous players, working together, have a half when they are virtually unstoppable, well then the victory margin may just be a little more comfortable.

Those big game players that stuck out in Nowlan Park were the St. Ibar's-Shelmalier duo of Kate Kelly and Katrina Parrock. It was their skill, but also an understanding that is nurtured at club level, which helped produced the two-goal blitz in the middle of the second-half that changed the complexion of the game.

'When you go to county level it does help you playing together at club,' said 2007 camogie player of the year Kate Kelly. 'You're training with someone at club and then you're going to county; it's easier to fit in with them on a county team.'

The first real evidence of how it could work was way back in the league when they played on the right-hand side of the attack against Galway in Enniscorthy.

'I was out on the wing, Kate was in the corner, and it worked really well,' said Katrina. 'The balls were going to us; I knew where she was positioned every time, I didn't even have to look up, but after that they didn't really play us together with injuries and stuff.'

As well as something that worked well, it produced arguably Wexford's best goal of the year when a long, mazy Parrock run ended with her picking out a loose Kelly, and the experienced forward rattled the ball into the roof of the net. Yet Kelly picked up a shoulder injury in a club game which was not only a hindrance to the partnership but to the team as a whole.

'I picked up an injury at the start of the championship and because it was six weeks in a row it was very hard. Once you got that kind of injury at that stage, you were going to miss a lot. It was very hard to sit out and not be able to play, and at this level everyone needs to be at one hundred per cent to really perform,' said Kate.

'A huge loss,' Katrina says of missing her clubmate. 'Kate is probably the best camogie player in Ireland. I know we have not been on the wing as much but if she wasn't there for the semi it would have been tough to overcome Kilkenny.'

Kate believes that the key to that effectiveness in the semi-final was that it was one of those games where they got the right supply of ball, making it easier to pick off the goal chances that came their way.

'Some games you can go out and a lot of the play would be up the other wing but we got a couple of balls. Una laid the ball across to me and Katrina let a shout and i just gave it in to her,' said Kate.

'Two minutes later the ball came across and Katrina gave one back to me and I was running through the middle and it worked really well. After that, Katrina was unlucky that the goalie saved one, I went in to bat it but it had just gone across the line.'

Looking ahead to the final, another performance from the double act could see Wexford as champions.

'It would be great if we did. We work really well on the wing together once we get the balls in, so it will be interesting to see what the team will be,' said Katrina.

Meanwhile, Kate insists that Galway will be a tough nut to crack. 'They are always physically tough, they are always breathing down your neck. We will be very well matched that way, so I think it will go down to the wire.'

- DEAN GOODISON Sports reporter