Cork courage makes dream come true
They swept past Kilkenny in a fine All-Ireland senior camogie final thanks to a stirring second-half display, and when their captain Anna Geary said there had been a bucket of tears at the final whistle, she wasn’t joking.
“We’ve had some people having bereavements this year, and struggles,” said Geary.
“Everybody’s got struggles nowadays. It puts it into perspective — I mean, this is sport, and sport is an opportunity for people to create a little bit of happiness through the sadness, and that’s what happened with us today.”
The Cork team which struggled with Kilkenny in the first half were unrecognisable after the break.
Up to the half-time break, the composite parts of that Kilkenny display were striking, and strikingly familiar: tactical awareness. Excellent basics. Good game management, to use a term migrating from rugby into GAA.
Cork’s strengths were visible in the second 30 minutes. Facing a hiding at the break, they flew forward in numbers, looking to exploit the pace advantage they had in the likes of Katriona Mackey.
With centre-back Gemma O’Connor holding the middle superbly, and Briege Corkery showing all her experience, their explosive start to the second half tilted momentum irresistibly in their favour.
For those of us who aren’t customarily on the camogie beat, the challenge yesterday was a simple one: write the game like any other game you cover, or dish out the journalistic equivalent of a pat on the head? If you went for the latter option, there were plenty of obvious pitfalls, from comparing players with their more famous brothers or fathers to making any reference at all to the appearance of those on the field. The missteps being taken by those ‘discovering’ that women play sport in recent times needn’t be rehashed here, though.
Yesterday didn’t match the quality on offer in Croke Park last Sunday week, but there’s no disgrace in that. You’d need to go back to Olivier’s debut as Archie Rice to hit those heights.
For the record, Kilkenny had the wind and asked Cork questions from the start, withdrawing wing-forwards to give them extra bodies between the 65s.
It told for them when Cork tried to clear, as they had a numerical advantage, with players coming off the shoulders of those in possession.
They racked up 1-6 before the break, the goal a tough break on Cork’s fine keeper Aoife Murray: having shown great reflexes earlier in the proceedings, Aisling Dunphy’s shot squirted away from Murray midway through the half-time and Michelle Quilty nudged it over the line.
Cork had been slow to get into the game and trailed by five at the break, but they reorganised superbly. They withdrew in numbers in the second half and then attacked in groups from the middle of the field, running at the Kilkenny defence at every opportunity, stringing killer passes together.
They blitzed 1-5 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, Jennifer O’Leary slamming home the goal that gave their challenge the impetus it needed.
O’Leary took a lot of steps before striking for goal decisively, but Cork supporters will no doubt rely on the old saying about things evening out, and point to an agricultural pull suffered by one of their forwards before the break when bearing down on goal.
Referee John Dolan didn’t take any action then, and he took no action late on when Kilkenny had a strong appeal for a penalty. Cork swept down field from that scare for Angela Walsh to goal with the last puck of the game.
Kilkenny joint manager Graham Dillon felt the final margin was a touch unfair to his side: “I’d feel that even though there were six points in the end, I don’t think it was a six-point match.
“Every one on that pitch wanted that O’Duffy Cup and you could see how hard the girls fought at the end.”
In the red and white corner, manager Paudie Murray was swift to pay tribute to his charges.
“All year we’ve had our struggles,” said Murray. “It’s not something we spoke about, there were other issues that have gone on over the last 12 months that have brought the team together a little bit more.
“We wanted to do it for Jenny (O’Leary) and other people close to the team, we weren’t going to lose this All-Ireland. There’s great character in this team and when they were facing defeat, they came together. There’s a lot of them there now with six All-Irelands, you can’t buy that stuff.”
Character. A winner in any sport.
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