Elaine Aylward: Once again, the road to glory runs through Cork and Galway

The championship's standout teams renew their rivalry with another All-Ireland title and lasting legacy on the line

If Galway are to stifle this Cork attack, Emma Hickey will be key. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

While the roaring twenties were defined by jazz, prohibition and social upheaval, the 2020s are being dictated by the dominant camogie forces of Cork and Galway. Like Gatsby staring at the elusive green light across the bay, rival counties can only look on from afar at a prize that remains perpetually out of reach. 

Every decider this decade has featured one of Sunday's finalists. They have met in three with Galway holding a 2-1 advantage. Next Sunday, Croke Park honours the 2001 Tipperary jubilee team. Remarkably, that was the last final without Cork or Galway.

The Championship 

The jury is still out on the new tiered structure. We saw close, competitive games in Group 2, we had no double-digit hidings like we saw in Championship 2025. Entertainment value increased. It should give teams like Offaly and Limerick a chance to establish themselves at senior and build a competitive squad, but those counties also have to push on to raise the bar themselves — there are only so many life buoys the Camogie Association can throw at the championship.

The downside, Group 2 teams played five competitive games in as many weeks then went straight to a knockout quarter-final. That's asking a huge amount of players and panels. They were fighting for survival every day they lined out. 

Contrast that to a jeopardy free Group 1 where with nothing really at stake, there was a danger of shadow boxing and players being rested as managers "timed a run". While that didn't appear to be the case this year, it remains a possibility. 

The case can also be made that the 'strong' get the chance to sharpen their blades against each other, whereas Group 2 teams have to rise to a quarter-final test without regular exposure to that level. Whatever way we restructure, there remains significant gaps, with Cork and Galway ahead of Tipperary, Kilkenny and Waterford, with the chasing pack a distance behind.

So, it proved in the semi-finals where Galway did what they do best, doing just enough to get over a Kilkenny side returning to the semi-finals for the first time in four years. While Cathal Murray's side never looked like losing they never hit top gear. 

In contrast, Cork screeched out of the traps looking like a team ravenous to make their first All-Ireland rather than a sixth in a row. They blew Tipp out of the water in that first 30 minutes and the damage was done.

The sequel 

So, we have a repeat of last year's epic final, the best of the four across all codes and the game that brought universal discourse, of the positive kind, for the first time in a long time.

The two best teams in the country for the past three years, separated by a single score on each previous occasion. 2024 saw a controversial Katrina Mackey goal separate the sides to ensure Cork retained their title. Last year it was an injury-time free from Carrie Dolan, on the sideline from under the Cusack Stand after 62 hectic minutes of a ferocious battle, to deny Cork their elusive quest for three in a row.

Carrie Dolan and Jennifer Hughes of Galway celebrate at the final whistle of the 2025 All-Ireland Camogie final. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Can Cork now bounce back to deny Galway their thus far unattainable pursuit of back-to-back titles?

Both sides possess lightning fast, high scoring forwards, yet it was Cork’s full back Libby Coppinger and Galway’s centre back Ciara Hickey who received the Player of the Match awards in the semi-finals such was the dominance of their respective sets of backs. 

These are the meanest defences around, each conceding an average of only 14 points per game so far. Galway have yet to concede a goal and Cork have only conceded one — a consolation goal to Ailish O'Reilly, in their first-round statement win in Athenry. 

Up front, Galway have amassed on average 2-12 per game with Cork a point better off on 1-16. However, it's ferocious work rate, willingness to turn over opposition possession, and hunt back the field that the Cork forwards stand out. Nobody epitomises this more than Emma Murphy. She had almost as many possessions inside her own full back line, in the semi-final, than she had in her customary wing forward position. She had four points and an overheating GPS tracker by the time she was withdrawn in the 52nd minute. Likewise, Orlaith Cahalane got in a crucial block and dispossession deep in her own full back line in the first half, a feat celebrated as enthusiastically as either of her two points. 

The set up and constant movement of Cork's inside forwards is a nightmare to defend, forming a straight line behind the opposition sweeper, before unleashing darting runs, creating space and bypassing that plus one. Tipperary struggled to get to grips with it for a long time in the semi-final. Don’t expect the Galway defence to be as easily manipulated — Ciara Hickey is quickly emerging as one of the best, a superb reader of the game, excellent distributer and always anxious to push forward to get her own score or set Galway on the counterattack. If Galway are to stifle this Cork attack, she will be key. 

It is the collective defensive unit that Cathal Murray has remoulded since that first round defeat to Cork that has powered their return to the final. In Rachel Hannify, Roisín Black and Dervla Higgins, they have tight markers capable of withstanding the toughest tests, the toughest of which is yet to come. Outside them, Katie Manning and Katie Anna Porter have grown into their roles. How they track the neverending runs of Emma Murphy and possibly Millie Condon will be telling.

Ger Manley and co will be equally aware of the threats Galway pose up front. In Niamh Niland and Caoimhe Kelly they have found two free-flowing, scoring corner forwards working alongside the returning Ailish O Reilly, who has always been the big day player. 

Outside her, Aoife O'Donoghue has yet to display her full current player of the year flair, but has potential to save her best performance of the year to light up an All-Ireland Final day. Áine Keane will get through an ocean of work and is comfortable in any position, while Niamh McPeake has shown the form of her life so far in the championship. Operating at centre forward her hallmark pace and direct running can carve open opposition defences, creating vital pockets of space for the inside forwards, while she is Galway’s second highest scorer of the championship with 2-9 from play. 

Galway may well look to exploit Cork's relatively new-look half back line of Fitzgerald, Murphy and Sheehan but expect them to be ably assisted by the experienced duo of Laura Hayes and Ashling Thompson. There are potential duals, match-ups and game-winning moves all over this fixture.

Cork and Galway have for the last three years turned Croke Park into their own West Egg Mansion Party. They dictate the rhythm of the summer and invite the rest of the country just to watch them dance. We will be lucky to witness another grand spectacle.