Cork strive for perfection, Kilkenny refuse to be denied

By Kevin Egan, at UPMC Nowlan Park
In 2023, Derry used the heartbreak of a one-point semi-final defeat 12 months previously to power them to extra-time victory over Kilkenny, the penultimate step on their road to glory in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Intermediate championship.

Fast forward to last Saturday afternoon in FBD Semple Stadium, and it was Kilkenny who were building success on the foundation of heartbreak.

“After full-time you’re kinda like, ‘damn, we have to go again’. But we knew, the girls lost here last year in a semi-final after extra-time and we were not going home today without a win”, said Danielle Morrissey, who scored nine points, five from play, in the Cats’ 2-14 to 2-12 win over Kerry.

“It took everything, players were cramping there at the end and it was an absolute slog. But everyone worked together, it’s a credit to the girls, a credit to the management and we’re going to be gunning for two weeks’ time,” she added.

“It’s brilliant, we’re the only team left playing hurling or camogie for Kilkenny and we’re training since November last year.”

When the final whistle sounded at the end of normal time, manager Seamus Kelly knew that his troops had dodged a bullet. Jackie Horgan, scorer of 1-7 for Kerry, missed a late chance to push the Kingdom two points clear, and that allowed Morrissey to win and convert a free to send the game to overtime.

“I never thought that in the last two years we’d get to two semi-finals and go to extra-time in both, but in fairness to the girls, they held on tight,” Kelly said afterwards.

“Even when Kerry got the goals on us, we could have easily dropped the heads, but they just reset themselves each time, kept plugging away. Thankfully we got out goal at the right time and got the right scores.

“I think the Wexford result in the Leinster semi-final, the game against Dublin in the championship, are the kind of games that galvanized us. We learned from them, and they galvanized us, and we built a resilience because of them. Without those games this year, I don’t think that we would have come out with a result there today. But it’s a credit to the players that they were able to regroup after those games, and just to be able to stay in a tight game like that and drive it on”.

While Kelly’s focus turned to an All-Ireland final against Cork on Sunday August 11, the Mount Leinster Rangers man was happy to allow his players to bask in the achievement of reaching a first decider at this level in three years, with effectively a completely new team – the only survivors from that 2-21 to 2-13 defeat to Antrim were defenders Niamh Leahy and Hannah Scott.

“The players need to celebrate these moments, they don’t come around that often. The big thing is to enjoy them as a group and as a team” Kelly said.

“As a management team we’ve to get back to work, we’ve to plan for the next two weeks, we have to go back through the game, find the learnings, bring them through to training and improve on them, and make sure that in two weeks’ time when we hit Croke Park, that we’re ready for the challenge ahead. I’ve no doubt that we’re going to go to Croke Park and do our utmost to come out with a result”.

Cork will be their opponents in that final, with a huge Rebel crowd likely to be there for the game since the Cork seniors will also be in Croke Park to try and retain the O’Duffy Cup.

Laura Homan (main pic, with Offaly’s Orla Gorman) scored 1-7 and won the Player of the Match award in Cork’s 2-13 to 0-13 win over Offaly in the second leg of Saturday’s double header, and the team captain paid tribute to the county’s supporters, many of them who watched both the seniors (in Nowlan Park) and the intermediates on the day.

“We had a really tough game out there today, I think that the intensity and the level of camogie played was unbelievable. It’s just showing week in and week out that camogie is improving,” Homan said.

“Even the support here today, we had a great crowd, so we’re so excited to put the head down for the next two weeks and get back to Croke Park.

“Supporters do get you over the line! At the end there we were tired, the legs were starting to go, and the girls were chanting and that drove us on and picked us up again. It would be brilliant to have two teams in Croke Park and hopefully the supporters will come out and drive us on again.

“I’m so happy and there’s so many young girls after coming onto the squad this year that haven’t set foot on Croke Park themselves, so I’m just so excited for those girls to step out on that pitch and experience that feeling in your tummy, we’re so buzzing and looking forward to it” she concluded.

Cork will bid to become the first county to win the second tier competition five times, as they’re currently tied on top of the Roll of Honour with Galway. Donie Daly’s side will go into the game as favourites, still unbeaten in league and championship in 2024.

“It’s funny the way things happen! We were appointed late, on the 27th of January, we’ve had a great season” Daly agreed.

“We won Division 2B, and giving girls a chance, we played a different 15 nearly every game in the league which set us up nicely for the championship because we knew then what we had and the capability of the girls. We took each championship game as it came, I suppose we rode our luck a couple of times, we won by a point against Offaly and two points against Westmeath, and we just dug deep.

“Each game that passed, we were getting better and getting closer to perfection, if you like. I know you never actually get to perfection but it’s what you strive for. And today was as close as you could hope for, and hopefully in two weeks’ time we’ll go one step better”.