Rebel stalwart Amy O’Connor wise beyond her years

Being “thrown in at the deep end” suited Amy O’Connor just fine. Rather than being inhibited by promotion to the Cork team while still a teenager, the St Vincent’s forward flourished with the responsibility placed on her young shoulders.

This Sunday, O’Connor will play in her fourth All-Ireland senior camogie final, bidding to secure her fourth All-Ireland medal. And she’s only 22.

Midway through the 2014 season, O’Connor, having impressed for the Cork minors that year, was drafted into the senior squad. She nicked a goal late on in the All-Ireland quarter-final victory over Offaly and saw further game-time during their All-Ireland semi-final replay win over Wexford.

She didn’t feature though in the All-Ireland final win over Kilkenny. Referee John Dolan sounded the final whistle just as she was to be introduced.

“I had the helmet on, ready to go and then the referee blew it up. It was a bit annoying,” O’Connor recalls. “Now, I was in awe of the whole thing. I had grown up watching all these people playing, Briege [Corkery], Rena [Buckley], Aoife [Murray], and Orla Cotter. I was like a child looking up to them. I was in shock that I was part of this winning group.”

Twelve months later, the Cork camogie team had taken on a new complexion, O’Connor playing the full hour as the Rebels successfully defended the O’Duffy Cup. Gone were multiple All-Ireland-winners Jenny O’Leary, Anna Geary, Joanne O’Callaghan, Sara Hayes, Joanne Casey, and Angela Walsh. The exit of six vastly experienced players from Paudie Murray’s set-up heralded a new era, starting roles handed to relative newcomers Orla Cronin, Hannah Looney, Méabh Cahalane, Leanne O’Sullivan, and O’Connor. The bedding-in process was bypassed. It was a case of sink or swim.

“I wish the likes of Joanne O’Callaghan and Jenny O’Leary stayed on for another couple of years because even for the short amount of time I spent with them, it was brilliant. I wish they had stayed on longer to bring us on that bit more.

“In another way, it was good they stepped away together and a lot of us, Hannah Looney, Laura Tracey, Orla Cronin and I, all came on the scene at the same time and were thrown in at the deep end. In total, there was something like 13 who left [between the end of 2014 and the start of the 2015 season]. People were shocked that we made the 2015 final and even more shocked that we won it. We didn’t expect to win it. After the 2014 retirements, I thought it could be even 10 years before we get there again.

We were in shock to be playing. We knew we’d all play a part but we didn’t all expect to play as much as we did. We all played every game. It was beneficial because we are still very young at the moment, but yet a lot of us have five years of experience on the senior panel.

To that end, O’Connor is eternally grateful to Paudie Murray for keeping faith with the younger players throughout the 2015 campaign.

They came up short to Galway in the league final, a game which they trailed by 2-10 to 0-5 at half-time.

The westerners again had their number during the group stages of the All-Ireland championship, as had Wexford. It was anything but smooth sailing.

“Paudie gave us a chance and even when things weren’t going well for us, he wasn’t taking us off. He was always full of praise. He stuck with us, hoping we’d eventually come good for him. We eventually found out feet.”

No more than 2014 with O’Connor, Murray continues to add a minor or two to his squad most years. This summer it was Laura Healy and Saoirse McCarthy who were called in off the back of the county’s All-Ireland minor success back in April.

Paudie is excellent at getting them in for the first year and then using them in their second year when they are familiar with the set-up and ready,” O’Connor continued.

“This year, there’s upwards of 20 girls who could start. You need that. I remember back to the 2016 final (Cork lost to Kilkenny) when we only had 16 players. We were all having howlers. Fourteen of us could have been taken off. I looked up to the stand in the second half and all we had in our subs area were the intermediate girls who were still crying from having lost their All-Ireland final earlier that day.”