BRIEGE CORKERY LAUGHS when she’s reminded. A couple of years ago, this writer spoke to the Cork dual star during the winter months and she revealed how this is the time of year when she likes getting a little unfit, before tuning up the engine again when the evenings get a little longer.
“I don’t really like the gym,” she smiles. “The only motivation at the moment is that I’m getting married in January!”
Briege and Diarmuid Scannell will tie the knot on 8 January before thoughts turn to another season in the blood and bandage.
2015 was one of the finest yet. Cork finished the year as All-Ireland ladies senior football champions, having first captured another camogie crown.
Corkery and dual sidekick Rena Buckley have featured in each and every one of Cork’s ten football victories over the past eleven years. In that time, they’ve also landed six camogie wins. That’s a combined total of 32 All-Ireland senior medals. Some going.
And yet you’ll have to go a long way before you’ll find a more modest individual than midfield powerhouse Corkery.
Rather than court the limelight, she’d rather shun it if she could.
But sometimes, there are things you feel you’ve just got to talk about.
Like the unfortunate fixtures clashes that pockmarked another successful season.
“There were a few controversial things along the way,” she notes. ”A few ups and downs between the two camps, things not going according to plan.
“We drew with Galway in the (ladies football) League final and the replay was fixed for the same day as the Munster (camogie) final.
“There was nothing that could have been done about that but the biggest disappointment was the Munster (football) final and the round robin (camogie) game against Offaly.
“That was just a pity but maybe it worked to our advantage later in the year. In the Kerry game, none of us performed.”
Buckley and Corkery played camogie against Offaly before making their way to Mallow later in the evening for the football showdown with the Kingdom.
Kerry won but just like in 2013, the sides would meet again later in the season, in an All-Ireland semi-final.
Gaining revenge was the highlight of Corkery’s season.
“I don’t like saying it, they’re our next door neighbours but beating Kerry in the semi-final was a nice little bit of revenge after losing the Munster final. It stood out as a great win, the way the girls performed.
“It was great to redeem ourselves. That’s a huge highlight.”
The fact that she’s picked out that particular game gives you an insight into Corkery’s thinking.
A born winner, the 28-year-old remembers the ones that got away just as much, if not more, than the victories.
“One thing we always say to ourselves is not that we love winning, but we hate losing.
“It will come to a stage when we’re on the losing end and we’ve been prepared for that over the last couple of years.
“But there’s a strong mental approach with the girls and within management. It’s a nice group to be hanging out with, a very positive group.”
We suggest that winning the dual double this year eclipsed the same achievement in 2014.
“It’s been phenomenal,” Corkery nods. “If you asked me this time, talking to you on the phone, I’d say no way because of the hunger, girls retiring, your own desire for it.
“It’s very hard to keep it going but the girls dug deep, fought for one another. It shows the character of the girls.”
We wonder where she gets her incredible desire to keep going from. The response is simple – love for the games and sheer enjoyment.
“I don’t do it for the medals or to get my name on the paper. I do it because I love it and enjoy it.
“The moment that enjoyment goes out of it, that’s the day to pull out, and you’ve had enough.
“But I’ve enjoyed it more last year than I have in a long time. There was no pressure on us. Obviously there were parts of the year when things weren’t going so well but you still enjoy it.
“Myself and Rena, we’ve been there together since we were 11 or 12, going out every night of the week training. I don’t think we ever stopped, it’s just what we know.
“Management talk very well to each other and if they think we look tired, they’ll pull us.
“Paudie (Murray) and Eamonn (Ryan) know that we give it 100 per cent in training, not just matches. They respect that honesty and it’s reciprocated.
“If you have honesty, that’s the main factor in the whole dual thing.”
And what about 2016? Will Corkery be back?
“I haven’t made up my mind fully, I’d say I probably will. With work and stuff, I might miss the first couple of weeks of the year but I might give it a bell.
“I’ll see what happens. If I’m not playing well in one, I might stick to the other. I would imagine I’ll be back in January or February.”
She’ll return after a honeymoon to Dubai and off the pitch, the qualified stonemason will gear up for another busy year – milking 500 cows a day!
“Mornings are a killer, I’m not a great morning person!” Corkery laughs.
“I’d be glued to the bed! We start in the springtime at 6.3o or 6.45, in the door in the evening at 6.30. That’s the time we’re supposed to start but there are advantages being with the boss (fiancé Diarmuid). I try to sweet talk him a small bit!
“We’re going into the New Zealand style of farming, sharemilking. You’re given a percentage of the milk cheque but you pay a percentage of the bills across the farm.
“It’s more than a manager’s role, the more work you do, the better profit you get out of it.”
Corkery’s well used to hard labour, and admits that the outdoor life suits her just fine.
“It’s just more the outdoor work I enjoy. I’ve always been an outdoor person since I was young. Mam might try to keep me in the house at times but I’d always sneak out into the yard!”
Corkery’s outstanding performances for the Cork ladies footballers saw her honoured by her peers with the Players’ player of the year award for 2015.
Her response to landing such a prestigious individual honour is typically understated.
“I think I was a bit shocked, to be honest. I thought I did grand but didn’t think I stood out as a great player this year. It’s nice to be voted for by your peers but it’s a great honour for the girls, that we played well through the year.
“I’m not into these individual awards, I’d prefer it as a team thing. If the girls around you aren’t playing well, you’re not going to. That’s why it’s a team sport.”
The camogie success was perhaps even more laudable, given the turnover of players from the previous season.
“To think that after losing 13 players from a panel, it was unbelievable to come back,” Corkery agrees.
“I admire Paudie’s confidence as well, he believed in us and that’s the biggest fault for a lot of teams, they don’t have enough belief in each other.
“Paudie instilled that in us this year, when things weren’t going great at times. There might have been 7 or 8 at training but we trained really hard and believed that we could win.
“That was down to exams and work, and the intermediates were playing as well.
“We lost so many big names – Jenny O’Leary, Angela Walsh, Anna Geary, Joanne O’Callaghan – huge names to lose, and other players who had been starting all through the year last year.
“Many people didn’t rate us as highly as we rated ourselves. We believed in ourselves and going back at the start of the year, I thought we could give this a good crack.
“Gemma O’Connor and Aoife Murray coming back was huge and we were honest towards each other. Nobody missed training because they just felt like missing it, they missed it for genuine reasons.”
And so, as the dust settles on another remarkable year for Corkery, the exploits of the Cork ladies footballers since the early 2000s have been documented in Mary White’s cracking book ‘Relentless – the Inside Story of the Cork ladies footballers.’
Corkery hasn’t had a chance to peek inside the covers yet, “I haven’t had time”, but she’s aware of the wholly positive reviews.
“I think she (White) took a huge risk, gave up her day job to go write this book.
“I would have fierce admiration for what she did and down the years to have this recorded for us along, the girls on the panel, it will be a nice little memory to have.”
Not that Briege Corkery is planning on stopping any time soon. Not when there’s more history to be written.
