Geary craving for further glory

WHEN she was just 17, Anna Geary’s CV was already sprinkled with great feats. She was star of the St Mary’s Charleville All-Ireland winning junior and senior teams, the pillar behind Milford’s camogie revolution and was a budding Cork senior star.

Though on the county panel in 2003, she didn’t figure in the final against Tipperary. A year later she was introduced as a second-half substitute in the 2004 All-Ireland final against the same opposition.

Geary admits now she wasn’t mentally unprepared for the call-up in 2004, but when it came, her remit appeared direct and daunting: disrupt and close down the influence of Tipp full back Una O’Dwyer. Dwyer is regarded as a titan of the modern game; Geary did her best, but to no avail. She vowed then to be back in Croke Park in 2005, determined to play a more central part from her natural half back berth.