By Daragh Ó Conchúir at Croke Park
Joy for Camross, regrets for Ballincollig. For much of the first half, the Cork champions were purring, moving four clear. They stalled in the closing stages of that period however, and only led by one at the interval 0-9 to 1-7.
When Sarah-Anne Fitzgerald goaled in the 39th minute, the Laois outfit hit the front and they never yielded that advantage, prevailing by 1-14 to 1-10
Donnagh Mortimer led an outstanding half-back line that was particularly brilliant in the second half to drive Arien Delaney’s squad forward and she hailed the selflessness of the entire panel, and the huge support that made the trip to Dublin.
“I can’t put words on it and I don’t think we’ll even realise what we’ve achieved, maybe weeks, months down the line, when we look back on this year, it’ll only fully sink in with us then,” Mortimer stated.
“But I think tonight, it’s just all about us and soaking up everyone, everyone who’s out here in the crowd has come see us. It’s unbelievable, and it’s all about them now as well as us.
“This is an absolute dream come true. It’s something, if you told us at the very beginning of this year that we’d win the county final, we would have snapped your hand off for it. But an All-Ireland final, it’s just something you couldn’t believe.
“It was just every match at a time. Of course, in the back of your mind we’re thinking Croke Park. But it kind of has to stay there. Like when we were training, Arien said to us, ‘Croke Park is as far away as the nearest lighthouse,’ which is very far away from us in the Midlands.
“So we just took it as it came, and just decided one match at a time.
“This year, everyone has pulled together from number one to number 24 like, there’s no one there that isn’t doing their job. It was a full team effort as it always is with us, and that’s why we’re here today, as winners.”
Delaney was buzzing with pride.
“You just wanted to go to get a start and we got that. Okay, the middle of the first half wasn’t really exceptional. And I said to them at half-time and let us be the ones to break them. Don’t let them break us. And they did. And we took some great scores. I’m just blessed and privileged to be involved with players like that.”
Leah Weste hugged her six-year-old daughter Molly, who was distraught, tears flowing freely. For every winner in a final, there has to be a loser. The lessons are tough.
Weste has seen both sides of the coin in a lengthy career for club and county. She wasn’t going to be comforted by platitudes.
“There’s a lot of regrets there now,” said the inspirational centre-back, who excelled despite a knee that necessitated some very heavy-duty strapping as the miles of a long season began to take their toll.
“I know we can be proud of getting here, but I just feel like tired when you don’t show up in the second half, you will have a few regrets.
“I don’t know what happened. We lost our confidence, and we didn’t stick to the game plan. And you know, that’s what happens. We did everything we weren’t meant to do for the second half.
“And that’s not taking away from Camross. They’re a very good team as well. I’m just disappointed for us… if you take your foot off the pedal at all, you know, you let it slip by you. And we will learn lessons from that too.”
Mortimer might have espoused the collective, just as her manager undoubtedly has all year, but Delaney was happy to extol the virtues of Laois legend Fitzgerald, who finished with 1-7.
“To be honest with you, Sarah-Anne Fitzgerald has been the best hurler in Laois since she started as an adult, no one has touched her. She could still tog out for the county this time, no bother to her. She’s just an exceptional person, an exceptional athlete, exceptional footballer. She’s exceptional at whatever she does, and today is her day in the sun. And as a proud Camross man to a proud Camross woman, I’m so happy for her.”
Camross is, of course, a strong traditional hurling club. Delaney gave his players a challenge on Saturday night.
“I said to them, it’s great to win it but no one else can be the first team to win it. And I said to them, we’re a team of the people, because we mirror the people of where we’re from. We’re honest, we’re hard working. But I said, be the champions for the people, and we are.”
