HAVING LOST ONE All-Ireland final in Croke Park already this year, Briege Corkery is keen to ensure that she will not lose two.
Corkery, and Cork ladies football captain Rena Buckley, were part of the Rebel camogie side which lost to Wexford three weeks ago, and they will bid to avoid an unwanted double against Kerry in Sunday’s TG4 Ladies Football All-Ireland Senior Championship decider.
“We were disappointed with the camogie final,” she says, “we just didn’t really perform and that’s the most gutting thing about it.
“It is a consolation that we’re back again, but you’ll always have the regrets of not winning the camogie. You have to think positive really, but I was only saying to my sister recently that the worst place to lose is in Croke Park.
“Hopefully, it won’t happen again and that we come out with guns blazing and see what we can do.”
On the plus side for Corkery, the Cork ladies have never lost in Croke Park, victorious in All-Ireland finals from 2005-09 inclusive and then regaining the Brendan Martin Cup last year.
“There’s always a day that comes when that changes,” she points out. “I’d never be thinking that way anyway, that we have never lost a game in Croke Park.
“We were close enough to it a few years but managed to squeeze by. We just need to plough on and make sure that we don’t make it difficult for ourselves.”
When the Munster sides met in the provincial final in July, Cork won by 3-12 to 2-9. Kerry impressed in the second half that day, however, so Corkery is wary of the Kingdom’s threat.
“I’ve great regard for Kerry, I think they’re a fantastic side,” she says. “We played them in the Munster final and only beat them by six points and they were missing players on the day, which is a scary factor for us.
“They have absolutely nothing to lose against us, the pressure is on us, they can just give it their all. We have Brendan Martin, I suppose that’s the difference, but I do think that they are a great side and people telling us that we are going to win easily isn’t a good thing for us, we don’t want to be complacent.”
Despite having beaten Donegal by 8-27 to 0-2 in the All-Ireland quarter-final, complacency was not an issue against Monaghan in the last four.
“It came down to workrate, we did work really, really hard against Monaghan,” Corkery says. “That’s what it’ll come down to against Kerry too, Monaghan are a fantastic side and it just didn’t happen for them against us. Monaghan are probably on a par with ourselves and I think Kerry are close to that too, so it’s a matter of doing all we can to win.”
