CORK CAMOGIE CAPTAIN Amy O’Connor could have been on the other side of the world these last few weeks had she taken a different road.
A talented prospect in football, she balanced her life between that sport and camogie for much of her underage career before making a choice. O’Connor represented the Republic of Ireland U19 side who reached the semi-finals of the European championship at a time when she was cutting her teeth in the Cork senior camogie squad.
The question has come up many times before. And O’Connor has always been emphatic and forthright in her stance that camogie was always going to be her choice when the time came. She never regretted her call to cut her football career short. No double takes in her mind.
When she saw the Ireland team make their historic first-ever appearance at the World Cup, she couldn’t help but ponder the alternatives. But she also has an All-Ireland final to prepare for with Cork where she will hope to win her fifth Celtic Cross.
“It’s brilliant,” she says when asked about Ireland’s progress to this point of competing in a first major tournament.
“And I suppose you can’t help but think of the ‘what ifs?’ But I’m very happy with my decision. I have no regrets and I have my own big day and that’s something I’m looking forward to. But huge credit to that group of players, and even the players that haven’t been selected that were involved in the journey, it’s brilliant.”
O’Connor also has the added honour of captaining Cork on Sunday afternoon when they clash with Waterford at Croke Park. But that’s just a formality on paper in her view.
“I don’t think about it at all. It’s a title and the ultimate role as captain in GAA is to go up and do the toss, and hopefully at the end of the year, you pick up some silverware on behalf of your team. We have enough leaders in the team.”
Should Cork triumph this weekend, they will become All-Ireland champions on the back of wins over Kilkenny [All-Ireland quarter-final] and Galway [All-Ireland semi-final]. Defeating two of the three camogie superpowers would be the ultimate signature way to end their five-year wait to reclaim the O’Duffy Cup.
“If you told me at the start of the year that we would be beating Galway and Kilkenny and still have no silverware won after that, I probably wouldn’t believe you. But we’re very conscious in Cork that we have nothing won yet. Please God we can go out and do the job on Waterford but we’re very conscious of how good a team Waterford are.
“We’ve a monumental battle on our hands but it would be sweet, if we do beat Waterford, to have beaten all the big guns in Waterford, Galway and Kilkenny.”
Their semi-final win over Galway featured some crucial substitute appearances from experienced Cork stars including Orla Cronin, Ashling Thompson and Laura Hayes. The timing of their introduction was a strategic masterstroke from manager Matthew Twomey as all arrived to give Cork a final push in the last 10 minutes.
The game time they have banked ensures Cork will have an aggressive fight for places in the lead-up to Sunday’s showdown with the Déise.
Those players, and more, were very unlucky not to start. We’re very conscious that everyone in our group has a role and some people have a role to start games, and other people have the role to finish games. When you have the likes of Orla Cronin, Ashling Thompson, Laura Hayes, Cliona Healy coming on, you’re looking at them saying that this is going to be a huge boost for us.
“It’s been brilliant to build that panel this year.
“We’ve no inclination yet of who’s going to play and who’s not going to play? Who’s going to finish the job? It’s difficult to know because there’s huge competition within the group.
“Waterford have beaten us already this year so we’re very much aware of how good they are. They know a lot about us, we know a lot about them. It’s going to be a huge battle and there’s not going to be a whole pile in it.
“They’ve had a phenomenal couple of years and they’re a quality side who are going to bring a huge level of aggression and fight, especially around the middle third. They have quality as well in the likes of Beth Carton and Lorraine Bray amongst others, so it’s going to be a huge test for us.”
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