Free-scoring Kilkenny don’t fear Cork, says Fintan Deegan

Their graph was expected to dip. After successive All-Ireland final defeats, managerial resignations and the departure of two of their most experienced players, Kilkenny camogie was set to return to the chasing pack in 2015.

When the draws for the All-Ireland camogie championship were made earlier this year, it was Group 1 that turned heads. The last three counties to lift the O’Duffy Cup — Cork (2014), Galway (2013) and Wexford (2012) — had been pitted together, with only the group winners guaranteed an All-Ireland semi-final place.

But Kilkenny didn’t just simply bounce back from successive September losses, the resignation of joint-managers Niall Williams and Graham Dillon and departure from the squad of Leanne Fennelly and Elaine Aylward.

Instead, they began issuing statement after statement of their intent to bridge the county’s 21-year gap to a last All-Ireland success.

Their results made for pretty incredible reading.

Fintan Deegan’s charges hit 3-13 against Dublin on the opening weekend in June, notched 2-22 the following Saturday against Clare. Their game against Derry finished: 8-22 to 2-10.

In early July, they entertained Tipperary at Freshford to decide top spot. Kilkenny limited the visitors to 0-4. They tallied 8-15.

Little wonder, then, that Kilkenny boss Deegan says his charges don’t fear champions Cork ahead of tomorrow’s All-Ireland semi-final.

“We are not afraid of them, we don’t fear them,” he said. “We are ready and the belief among the players is that if we get it right, we are good enough to win.”

Paudie Murray’s side limited the Kilkenny attack to 1-9 in last year’s decider, Anna Geary holding key forward Katie Power to a point.

The Piltown club woman has tallied 5-12 en route to the semi-final and Geary is no longer around to operate a tight least at Walsh Park.

More ominous for the Cork defence is that Power doesn’t even sit as the team’s top-scorer, that accolade currently held by Denise Gaule — the half-forward hitting 7-18 in their four games.

“The forwards really are on form, they are pulling together very well,” continued Deegan. “Katie Power, in my opinion, is the best camogie player in the country at present. Her brains, her intelligence as well as her ability is frightening at times. It is a team effort and the defence aren’t getting credit for the amount of work they are doing. We’re keeping the scorelines tight (they’ve conceded on average 0-10 per game).”

Deegan, a Laois native who is married and living in Urlingford, took charge in January. His first priority was to ensure the current campaign wouldn’t be dictated by how previous ones ended.

“Obviously the goal is to win the All-Ireland. But we said at the start of the year we weren’t going down the route of trying to avenge what happened in the last two years. The last two years are gone. There is new management now and around 10 or 12 new faces on the panel as well. At the start of the year we sat down and we discussed the very real possibility that we might not even get out of the group. You can’t link one year with the year previous, you can’t solely focus on revenge for the last two years or use that as motivation.”