Milford eye prize again

Sometimes it takes an outsider to see the wood from the trees, to stand back far enough to see where and why a problem exists.

For over a decade Milford had been a force in Cork camogie. But they couldn’t quite cross the line, beaten in three senior finals.

In 2012, former Carrigtwohill player Frank Flannery joined the cause and by the middle of the season James McGrath had joined him.

“I’d be very good friends with Frank,” James explained. “He asked me to come down to do a one-off session, to bring a bit of freshness to them. That was in July 2012. I went down, did it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a real feelgood factor about the place.”

The reason for the good feeling? Frank Flannery had begun to turn things around. What he had found when he went to Milford was a team so obsessed with winning their championship that they were suffocating themselves. His solution? Get them to change the target.

“They had spent years trying to win a county but Frank told them ‘forget about Cork, we’re going to win an All-Ireland’,” James said. “He put in an eight-step programme, eight games to win an All-Ireland with the county championship just a step along the way. That was step five. Win one game at a time, that was the approach and that’s what they did, got on a roll, and that attitude stood to them. They ended up taking the county in their stride.”

By the end of 2012 Milford had won that county and added a Munster title. On March 2, 2013, the big one followed. An All-Ireland title. This Sunday, 12 months on from that glorious day in Croke Park, they’re back. Their county and Munster titles have been retained and only Galway champions Ardrahan stand between them and another All-Ireland title.

There’s one change though. Frank is gone. James is now at the helm.

“When Frank asked me to stay on after doing that session [in 2012] I was delighted. Then when he left last year and the opportunity came up for me I jumped at it. That’s not an opportunity that comes up every day. I had known of Milford even before I came down here. My club Toomevara would have played them in challenge games and in Munster league. I knew they were a formidable side, knew they were knocking on the door and the quality was there.”

It was more than that though.

“They’re such a great bunch, have a fantastic bond, but that’s what you get in a small parish where everyone knows everyone else. There’s a great sense of community, of family, of friendship. Even fundraising, everyone gets together, players included, and puts in the effort. And it’s serious effort now, off the field and on. That’s the way it’s gone in camogie, even at club level. Three days a week, those are the official sessions for us but the girls also do their own training, the Cork-based girls do the gym early in the morning, before work, many more do extra skill work in the field. That’s what you have to do or you get left behind.”

Those efforts are finally paying off, and not just with medals. It’s the memories, the golden moments. Sarah Sexton, player of the game in last year’s All-Ireland final win, but missing this campaign through injury, recalled the magical minutes when they arrived back in Milford.

“To see the crowd when we hit the top of the hill above in Kilbolane, looking down into the village... the bonfires, the crowds, a Garda escort. That’s something that’ll live with me forever, a priceless moment.”

Well, they’re there again with an opportunity to repeat it. An opportunity James believes they have earned.

“The attitude at the start of the year was we had to do the same again. We had to back up what we had done last year. It started with the county final, then the Munster title. After that we took a few weeks off, sat down with the girls and the choice was stark — enjoy yourself over the Christmas and put the training to one side, come back and maybe lose, or put in the effort again. That’s what we did and we’re there now again in an All-Ireland final.

“It’s a massive achievement. People at home ask me ‘Where is Milford, how do you get there?’ and for years it was always the next parish to Newtown. Now they’re writing their own history, and Newtown is the next village to Milford!”