A dual jewel
She’s not counting. Or if she ever was, she’s lost count.
Ask Briege Corkery where she reckons she stands in the roll of honour of All-Ireland medals and she “thinks” herself and Rena Buckley are on the same as Mary O’Connor before them at about the 13 mark.
But she’s “not sure”.
“I don’t like comparing myself to other people,” she says after dashing in from another training session. “I am who I am.”
As it turns out, she’s slightly off. The bar is currently raised at 12. Angela and Ann Downey each won a dozen senior All-Ireland medals in camogie and, being from Kilkenny, none in football. O’Connor won seven in camogie, and being from Cork, another five in football. But now that triumvirate could well be overtaken this month by a certain duo.
Tomorrow in Croke Park Corkery and Rena Buckley could win their fifth senior camogie title with Cork, and a fortnight later, a staggering ninth with the ladies footballers.
It evokes that famous line the late Sid Waddell excitably proclaimed as Eric Bristow closed down on yet another world darts championship.
“When Alexander The Great of Macedonia was 33 he cried salt tears because he had no more worlds to conquer ... Bristow’s only 27!”
Not least because Corkery and Buckley are still only 27.
O’Connor, herself, can only watch in awe at how much more they can still win and how vital they’ve been in those previous wins; Corkery has being Player of the Year in both football and camogie, winning nine All Stars between the two codes.
“I think it’s a phenomenon,” says O’Connor, now a director for camogie development. “I use that word sparingly but very deliberately in this instance because, in terms of women’s sport in this country, Briege Corkery is simply a phenomenon. To train and play at the level of intensity she has for so long.
“She hasn’t just won things with Cork; she’s been instrumental in Cork winning those All-Irelands. When those games were in the balance she was the one that took them by the scruff of the neck. Last year she helped her club win their first county. She wouldn’t be a noted scorer but she kicked the winning point against my own club in the final because that’s what Briege Corkery does, win games for her team.
“And with all the underage talent coming through in both camogie and football in Cork I can see herself and Rena winning a lot more. I know in female sport players retire that bit earlier but they’re such athletes they’ll be the ones who’ll decide how long more they’ll play for.”
So what’s Corkery’s secret?
It might be in something that could seem a bit of a paradox but makes absolute sense. In the words of O’Connor, “Briege is always happy”, off the field and on it. And yet in the words of another old legendary teammate, Juliet Murphy, “Briege is never satisfied.”
Past glories and medals are right away parked to the point she literally can’t keep count of them; trying to land the next couple is where the thrill is. But it is a thrill. Playing camogie and football for Cork is something she just loves, something that makes her happy. So, no, you won’t hear from her that being a dual player is some kind of grind or ordeal. But she understands why it can sometimes be like that for male dual players.
She and Buckley haven’t had to contend with their names and dual status dragged up on The Sunday Game any time Cork lose as poor Aidan Walsh had to numerous times this summer. But the fact she and Buckley have been able to combine the two so well for so long she feels is proof that it can work for the likes of Walsh too.
“I think you can play both,” says Corkery. “Without a doubt. It’s not that different, what we’re doing and what they are; ultimately we’re playing at the top level too in our games. I’d just wish people would give them a small bit of a break. As in, don’t be making such a big deal out of it.
“I think the biggest issue in being a male dual player is that the media make such a big issue of them being dual players. When I saw Aidan Walsh coming off in the hurling (All-Ireland semi-final) I felt so sorry for him.
“Because you knew what was coming. ‘Ah, you can’t do both.’ But it just takes time to adapt to being able to manage both. Rena and myself have been doing this since we were 14.
“If Aidan Walsh were to do both again next year he’d be better able to cope. People need to chill on the men, the likes of Aidan, (Damien) Cahalane and (Eoin) Cadogan. Just let them do it.”
How does she? “I just get up the next day and play it. That’s kind of it.”
You must be good to rest so? Know when to sit out a training session or step out of one? “Should I say ‘Yeah’?” she chuckles. “But no!”
More often than not it’s left to Eamonn Ryan and Paudie Murray to pull the reins, such is her reluctance to be seen to be avoiding the work.
The night we meet up she’s just after coming from football training, although she only popped her head in there. The previous night and the following night, camogie. Even last night she again drove the 40 minutes down from Macroom into The Farm to look out for the footballers whom she captains this year. “I just like to keep myself occupied,” he says. “I’m not used to sitting at home and if I sat there I’d only be thinking of the training.”
Ask any teammate about Corkery and they’ll say she’s a lifeforce and a livewire. Last winter her and teammate Bríd Stack headed to the States for 10 days, spending four in San Diego and six in Vegas; Corkery survived and word is Vegas did too, just about.
O’Connor remembers after one of the All-Ireland wins, the side retreated to Quinn’s and some friends of Corkery’s were wearing a t-shirt that was both a nod to her occupation and personality. ‘Briege Corkery: stonemason by day, stone mad by night.’
Juliet Murphy will second that. “Briege trains hard and she plays hard. She’ll be the first one dancing on the bar without ever falling off the bar. She’s just got such energy. She never misses training but more often than not she’ll be flying in there on two wheels coming from work. She’s just always on the go.”
She does occasionally relax. After training she’ll put on the telly, and will particularly enjoy The Inbetweeners and Orange Is The New Black. She has a boyfriend, Diarmuid. But she won’t lie. With Diarmuid running a farm, some of their dates can be helping milk the cows together. When you have as much on as she does, a passive life isn’t really an option.
It’s probably down to how she was reared. She grew up on her parents’ farm, the second-youngest of 10 children. That meant “a lot of great fights,” she smiles, and a love for the outdoors. “Mum would try to get me to do housework when I was younger and I’d sneak out the yard.” Her first summer jobs were really working on that farmyard and it’s something she’s ended up returning to now that she no longer works as a stonemason by day after work dried up in that sector; the day job now is as an assistant to a veterinary agency in Macroom.
Sport was another outdoor passion. In football her club is St Val’s from Aghinagh, while she’s always hurled with Cloughduv, just as her mother did. She’s been playing with Cork adult senior teams since she was 16, coming on a sub in the 2003 camogie senior final defeat to Tipperary. Two years later Cork would reverse that result, with Corkery starting at wing forward. A couple of weeks later she would win a football All-Ireland at wing back. Just like Teddy McCarthy, she had done the double, and would go on to do another three before the decade was out.
Things have changed since then. In 2010 she took the year out to travel Down Under with her boyfriend Diarmuid and in her absence the ladies footballers would suffer a shock quarter-final exit to Tyrone, their only defeat in the last 10 years in the All-Ireland series. Since her return they’ve returned to winning every All-Ireland going but in the camogie Cork are still waiting for their first title since 2009. Comparisons between the two setups have been unavoidable, not least to Corkery.
“You’ll always be comparing, to be fair. We’ve been very up and down in the camogie since 2009. We’ve been good enough but we just haven’t pulled it together. At times people would be missing training which is something that never happens in the football. There have definitely been years in the camogie where you could feel things haven’t been right. I’m sure in the future that will happen in the football too and there’ll be quiet years in it but for now we’re always conscious of what Eamonn says which is when you’re on top milk it for all its worth because it does not last forever.”
This year she feels better about the camogie. The turning point for her was a visit to Spike Island, best known for being the station of a prison. It was there the Cork camogie team paid some penance too and were all the better for it. “We put down a really hard day there. It was soaking wet, absolutely lashing, and the army really put us through our paces. We’d be carrying dead weight, with blindfolds on and next thing you’d just hear a scream and someone had been fired into the water. Afterwards the army lads pointed out our deficiencies. Some people didn’t respect other people. Our communication needed to be better. It all came to the fore and since then there’s been a huge difference. I think girls just tuned in a bit more, started taking it more serious. We’ve become closer, better at communicating, better friends really. Everyone is training so hard we’re really looking forward to Sunday and to performing and not having regrets like we had two years ago in the final. We just had a very bad mental attitude going up there. If you gave it 100% and lost it’s some consolation it but we were only operating at 60%.”
Even the footballers have had their little wobbles and have required some interventions. Early last summer they were twice beaten by Kerry in Munster. Things picked up slightly when Juliet Murphy returned but they needed Murphy’s leadership off the field to fully get back on track. She asked each player to write about each player and what words came to mind when they thought of them. That simple exercise completely changed the mood.
“It just lifted all of us. In hindsight we had become too hard on each other, cranky even. We just needed to remember that we could play football, it was all in our head, it was all about attitude. I know I sometimes would doubt myself if I was working hard enough, but when I saw that sheet it gave me huge confidence, that people still had confidence in me.”
Juliet Murphy is astonished to think Corkery ever doubted herself. They never doubted it. Alongside her name were a range of compliments: Inspirational. Courageous. Determined. Fearless. Murphy could have kept on and on.
“There will never be anyone like Briege Corkery in football again. That combination of athleticism, determination and I’ve never seen a more fearless player. She’s not afraid of any opponent or going into any challenge or of hurting herself in training or in a game. In the 2009 final she went into a tackle and landed head over heels trying to stop herself from falling, got up and played on. Afterwards in the celebrations she said her ribs were feeling a bit sore. It turned out she’d fractured one yet she’d played on. I have no doubt with her ability to get up and down the field that if she’d dedicated herself to being a middle-distance runner she’d have run for Ireland in the Olympics. She can lift the team by making a block or carrying the ball to relieve the team or win a kickout just when we need it.”
Corkery herself rates herself as a much better footballer than a hurler, which is why if she had a preference it would be for the big ball. “I don’t really rate myself as a camogie player,” she softly laughs. “I seem to spend most of my time on the ground. I love camogie as well but if I was to pick one it would be football because I feel I have more to offer it.”
Mary O’Connor though would dispute that perception. Corkery hasn’t been a four-time All Star and All-Ireland winner and Player of the Year in the small ball by accident.
“You have to realise about Briege that not only is she humble but she is a fantastic camogie player. You just don’t know where she’ll pop up. She might be lining out at wing forward but she’ll be back in the halfback line looking for a pass. Her real strength is her ability to get on the ball and take people on, draw two or three players and then see and play the pass. She might only score a couple of points but you can be sure she’ll be fouled another four or five times for another four or five. You hear a lot about decision-making in GAA now. Well Briege Corkery is probably the best decision- maker in camogie and football there is.”
Earlier in the year though she had to make some decisions and there were some decisions made about her, all which ended up working out for the best. While in January she returned to the footballers she would take until March to resume with the camogie. A few months in though she found herself dropped for the first time in 10 years for the league semi-final against Clare.
“At the start of the year we were just all over the place but the big turning point for me was when Paudie dropped me that time. I felt ‘God, why is he dropping me?’ I was absolutely gutted. So I called one of the selectors wondering, ‘Am I not good enough anymore? What do I need to do to get back on the team?’ And in fairness he said, ‘Look, let’s just improve your hurling, there’s plenty of time to get it right, we’ll get there.’ And looking back it was the right decision. It was like a kick up the arse for me.
It’s been what’s really drove me on this year in the camogie.”
And so, since then, herself and Buckley, the two dual players, will meet up a couple of mornings a week in the ball alley in Cloughduv before work and get in some practise there. It’s brought on their hurling. The day in Spike Island has brought on the team’s sense of mission and spirit. She likes how things are shaping up ahead of tomorrow. Thinks this year they’re more focused.
And then after that? Why, she’ll focus on something else. As she says about any of other wins, it’s “YAY! WE WON! Forget about it, drive on.”
That’s how she rolls. Always happy, never satisfied.
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