Cork empire strikes back, and just about stays standing
Cork's Sorcha McCartan played the All-Ireland camogie final against Galway with a broken finger. Pic: ©INPHO/Grace Halton
Hung on. Held on. Not quite in haunted territory, to borrow from their own Cork vernacular, but not far off such a conclusion either.
The empire struck back and then the empire just about stayed upright.
The endgame was a scene of maroon momentum. Having eventually abandoned their defensive set, Galway pushed all chips forward on the table.
No more containment and counter. The necessity for green dictated such. It was either embrace risk or accept regret.
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Saoirse McCarthy’s 57th minute white flag for a six-point Cork advantage was their last of this bitty-to-brilliantly-dramatic decider. It was they who assumed the maroon role of previous finals of running out of flags as the clock ran down.
In the 10 minutes of chaotic theatre that unfolded following McCarthy’s point, Cork managed one shot at Sarah Healy’s posts. That again came from the stick of the Courcey Rovers centre-forward well into the five allotted injury-time minutes.
Galway outshot the red corner eight to one in them 10 final minutes. Five unanswered points. One of those a Mairéad Dillon goal opportunity bulldozed over. The remaining three were wide. All were eminently getable. None came from standing atop sideline paint.
Neither should we forget that Cork’s last score emanated from a Carrie Dolan free sent short to Caoimhe Kelly. A rare moment of poor decision-making from the nobody-spared Galway captain.
All of the above is to present in black and white the reality that Cork, from a position of six up and their opponents' conductor crying injured in the stand, didn’t go and win this with traditional red swagger and silk. Not even close.
On this occasion, the how was so irrelevant for Cork. Get back to the summit, climb over whoever you have to. The total disregard for how had a multitude of fathers.
The winter-long sting of being caught physically off guard in the 2025 final. The departure of Laura Treacy, the Mackey twins, Hannah Looney, Aoife Healy, and Cliona Healy. The injury to Ashling Thompson and the uncertainty when she’d be back. If she’d be back.
The horrendous league form. The newbies receiving an opening-day education below in Walsh Park. Losing at home to Antrim. Requiring results elsewhere to avoid relegation. The absolute no-show against Tipp in the Munster quarter-final.
The questioning of their identity. The questioning of their ability. The curiosity if the many voids were too sizable to fill.
The chatter of a fallow period for Cork camogie. A fallow period for the county that had contested the last five All-Ireland finals. The cheek of those to even contemplate such.
A seven-week gap followed their early elimination from the provincial championship. Seven weeks that ultimately reshaped their season.
“We played Limerick, in Doneraile, in a challenge match a couple of weeks out from the first Galway game and we played some hurling. It doesn’t matter to me the opposition, it’s how you play and your attitude,” said Ger Manley, before Cork’s breakout final performer Millie Condon picked up on the mid-season rewrite.
“The seven-week training block we put in did so much for us,” she said. “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 that we realised how much we actually had come on. We were so much closer.”
The red empire was reblocked and relaunched on June 6 in the backyard of the champions. The red empire kept adding fresh and higher floors all the way to the 54th minute of Sunday’s final when the fist-pumping and free-wheeling Sorcha McCartan fired over her fourth to complete a 15-minute spell of Cork outgunning Galway by 2-2 to 0-2. The eight minutes after half-time they won 0-4 to 0-1.
“I remember when we lost against Antrim in the League. It was a fairly low point, but after the match they came in and they said that our empire has not fallen and it’s only going to be a matter of time until we prove people wrong, which we’ve done,” Condon continued.
Cork’s first-half won them no All-Ireland. It just made sure not to allow their opponents too far up the road. Manley’s charges didn’t score from play until the 18th minute. Only two points from play - and from the same player - by half-time.
Their third quarter, same as two years ago, was deafening. Orlaith Cahalane who, acting on sideline instruction, had operated too far out in the opening half, pushed in closer to the bullseye. The link-up telepathy between herself and Barrs clubmate McCartan was poetry.
The latter, we were told, hurled with a broken finger. Further impressiveness onto the Down native’s final takeover.
A third gripping Cork-Galway decider. A record crowd of 33,419. The biggest losing total since Cork’s 5-6 in 1955 was insufficient.
Cathal Murray sought out Gavin Donegal at full-time. He wanted to thank the ref. Here was his reasoning.
“That's the way we want to see camogie being played. It was a brilliant, brilliant advertisement. The physicality, the strength and conditioning, the level it's gone to is brilliant to see.
“It had to be an unbelievable game because it looked an unbelievable game for me on the sideline. There's plenty of tackles let go and plenty of physicality let go. Listen, that's what we're crying out for.”
But after an endless stream of Cork-Kilkenny finals in the middle of the last decade that were ruined by whistle-obsessed referees, have we now lurched too far towards the other extreme?
The spectacle shouldn’t come before basic policing. The spectacle shouldn’t come before safety. Five yellow cards were shown. It is a wonder how that number wasn’t higher. The cynicism so evident in the closing stages now also requires accommodation in the rulebook.
What Murray also wants is a proper holiday fund for the two All-Ireland finalists. President Brian Molloy wants integration. Manley’s ask was the simplest of the lot.
“They don’t get the recognition,” he said.
“That’s three fabulous finals with Galway. And I’m not knocking the hurling. These games, I know we’re not as fit, as strong – but you have to say, the camogie is after improving buckets the last four or five years.
“And it is levelling out. It’s grand to say Cork and Galway are there all the time, but it’s up to the other counties to catch up.”
New faces are always welcome, but if we’re back here in 12 months’ time marveling at another bruising, abrasive, and captivating Cork-Galway concluding Sunday, won’t we be only delighted at a fourth instalment.
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