'First proper one' but it's All-Ireland camogie winners medal number two for Millie Condon

Condon collected a second All-Ireland senior medal on Sunday, but this was her first on the field of play.

Cork's Millie Condon is challenged by Carrie Dolan and Niamh Niland. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher.

From Ballinascarthy to Croke Park.

Still only 21-years-of-age and lining out in her first All-Ireland senior camogie championship final, Millie Condon appeared right at home.

She collected a second All-Ireland senior medal on Sunday, but this was her first on the field of play.

“First proper one,” she smiles. “I got one in 2024 as well, but this is the first proper one this year.

“I suppose everyone kind of wrote us off at the start of the year when the league didn't go quite right for us.

“That seven weeks training block we put in after the league did so much for us. I didn't even see the progress myself as it was happening. It was only when we came out against Galway in that first championship match (in Athenry) that we realised how much we actually had come on.

“We were so much closer. We wanted every single thing that we got. And, like, the bond got so, so close.

“It's probably easy to say it now, but it's the sweetest one so far.”

Such an eager beaver, the number 12 covered an amount of ground around the middle third in GAA headquarters, and further afield.

And, in fact, this was a second podium finish for the west Cork star this season, after she claimed All-Ireland glory with the U23s in mid May.

“That's another thing. Like, those U23 championship matches stood to us. The majority of the U23 starting team are on this panel as well. And I feel like we brought that back to the squad.

“I remember after the All-Ireland last year when we lost, I remember Laura Hayes coming up to me and Ava Fitz(Gerald), who had a super game today. And she came up and she was like; 'lads, like, where you make the starting 15 is the first round of the league and you just have to get your position then and just don't let it go.'

“And I suppose me and Ava have spoken about it since. And I suppose that's what we did, thank God. And it paid off today.”