Eimear Ryan: Kilkenny relief but Galway may have psychological advantage

With camogie and hurling All-Ireland finals taking place over the same weekend, Christmas is indeed coming early

Wed, 02 Dec, 2020 - 16:55

There are certain players in the hurling pantheon whose mere presence on the pitch has a psychological impact on the game, and Gemma O’Connor is one of them. Like Brian Corcoran in the noughts or Declan Ryan in the late nineties, O’Connor brings physicality, experience, and a hurling brain to whatever line of the field she occupies.

Paudie Murray is well cognisant of this talismanic aspect of O’Connor; her ability to galvanise her team and rattle opposition.

He used it once before to brilliant effect in the 2017 All-Ireland final, insisting that the injured O’Connor wasn’t fit to start in the build-up, but springing her on the day. She was crucial to Cork’s one-point victory on that occasion, offering a steadying hand at the back and popping up for a monster equaliser at the close of normal time.

The build-up to last weekend’s All-Ireland semi-final felt like a strange echo of 2017: the same opposition in Kilkenny, the same question-mark over O’Connor’s fitness.

Still, it was a surprise to see her start in the full-forward line last Saturday. Though her career has incorporated spells at midfield and centre-forward, she’s now synonymous with centre-back.

When she ghosted away from Collette Dormer in the eighth minute and received Katrina Mackey’s handpass to smash it to the net, however, it seemed as if the gamble was paying off. Cork had stumbled on a compelling formula: run it and offload to O’Connor, who is, after all, one of the game’s most powerful strikers of the ball.

But for all her inventive movement on the edge of the square for the remainder of the game — time and again she positioned herself to execute a carbon-copy goal — O’Connor wasn’t fed. It’s the inside forward’s dilemma: having to rotate out of direct play to be available for the pass, but powerless if the ball isn’t given.

Kilkenny’s sleepy start — down 1-3 to 0-0 after ten minutes — might be explained by the relative ease with which they overcame Westmeath, Limerick and Waterford in the group stages on their path to the semi-final.

Mary O’Connell settled them with two fuss-free points, one from each wing. Ann Dalton, like all the great players can, turned the game by creating something from nothing: catching a high dropping ball under pressure from Pamela Mackey and Laura Treacy and finishing low, pushing Kilkenny into the lead for the first time in the 26th minute.

Cork, to their credit, responded immediately with an Ashling Thompson point. By the end of the 60 minutes, Thompson’s midfield partnership with Chloe Sigerson yielded five points from play in total, many of them long-range. In recent years, a similar haul from play would often be enough to win a game. But in the winter championship, goals win matches, and Miriam Walsh’s head-down determination early in the second half gave Kilkenny the platform they needed to drive on.

The joy and relief of the Kilkenny players at the full-time whistle, having beaten Cork in the knockout stages for the first time since 2016, was palpable — and contrasted sharply with the muted reaction of Galway to their victory in the opposite semi-final.

Dispatching Tipperary was a torrid day’s work for Galway, who were never allowed to fully get into their stride.

It’s been another heartbreaking season for Tipp, who made the semi-finals for a third year in a row and are tired of being congratulated for it. While they’re now firmly re-established in the game’s top four powers after a spell in the wilderness in the early part of the decade, Tipp won’t be satisfied until they crack that elusive top two.

As impressive as many of their performances were this year, 2020 has also been shot through with bad luck for Tipp. Having beaten All-Ireland champions Galway in the league semi-final in March of this year, the final was cancelled due to lockdown.

New signing Aishling Moloney missed two games due to suspension and was injured for the All-Ireland semi-final; experienced players Nicole Walsh and Ereena Fryday were also ruled out because of injury. Meanwhile Orla O’Dwyer, juggling three elite sports, was unavailable due to her return to the Brisbane Lions.

A Cork or a Kilkenny, used to making the finals year in year out, could perhaps absorb these setbacks, but a breakthrough team needs wind in their sails.

As Bill Mullaney emphasised in his post-match interviews, the players who started last Saturday did their utmost, but experience counts for so much at this level.

Think of Mary Ryan at full-back, feet like a boxer, always keeping her body between the attacker and the goalmouth and somehow never conceding frees. She pushed forward several times in the second half while Cáit Devane dropped deep, as if between them they were trying to jump-start Tipp’s attack.

Karen Kennedy, too, was industrious and troublesome to the Galway defence, but ultimately Tipp will be disappointed with their 0-8 tally. Again, the truism: goals win matches.

With Galway and Kilkenny in the final on December 12, we have a sequel to last year’s free-flowing scorefest to look forward to — such a tonic after the tight, tense trilogy of chess matches between Cork and Kilkenny that preceded it.

Kilkenny will likely be favourites, despite losing last year on a scoreline of 3-14 to 0-17. Their quality and strength in recent years is plain, but so too is the fact that out of six All-Ireland finals since 2010, the Cats have only won a single title.

In fact, the psychological advantage might well be with Galway, given that both their All-Ireland victories in the last decade — 2019 and 2013 — have been at the expense of Kilkenny. With both this decider and Waterford and Limerick in the men’s final taking place over the same weekend, Christmas is indeed coming early. It’s the least 2020 can do for us at this stage.