By Daragh Ó Conchúir
Ger Manley made his initial approach to Gemma O’Connor in his first season as manager but she was unable to commit due to work, training for the Dublin Marathon with her wife Aoife and falling in with St Finbarr’s.
Given her leadership traits – not just as a member of the Irish Army, a nine-time All-Ireland winner and a record 11-time All-Star honouree in 19 seasons of senior inter-county fare, but as illustrated in playing the entire 2017 All-Ireland final with a ACL torn in the semi-final, and scoring a goal in the 2020 All-Ireland semi-final, her last game in red, a month after suffering a punctured lung – it is difficult to imagine the all-time great not appearing on a sideline at some point.
O’Connor came on board last year and with Liam Cronin and Adrian O’Sullivan moving on to the hurlers of Limerick and Waterford respectively, she took on a more considerable coaching role as the Rebels surprised most observers by becoming Glen Dimplex All-Ireland champions less than three weeks ago.
Clearly, given how often she was referenced by the players in the moments after Cork dethroned Galway, the motivational skills she was renowned for remain intact too.
Winning an All-Ireland seemed unlikely as a much-changed squad down 14 players from 2025 struggled through the Centra League and Munster Championship.
O’Connor and her fellow mentors adopted a patient approach initially.
“I remember we were down in East Cork doing a kind of a wall-ball session,” O’Connor recalls. “We were on the astro, it was absolutely teaming rain, and we got a few of the younger players in one group and the older players in another.
“We were kind of going to be known as a transition team, you know, the cliches that kind of wreck your head,” she says, now laughing. “I was like, ‘It’s probably going to be up to us to not portray that picture.”
But you don’t just flick a switch. You need to erect building blocks and some of the points of the journey can be chastening. So the League “wasn’t very pretty,” and “people thought it was going to be the end of Cork Camogie for a while”.
To lose to Antrim in the first round of the League was Exhibit A for those predicting a period in the doldrums.
“There was a bedding-in period for people to kind of find their feet and play with each other. With a lot of new girls that never played senior before, and people getting to know each other, that’s half the battle. Getting to know personalities and people’s strengths and weaknesses and then allowing time for people to improve. It was going to take time, and we as a management team were saying we were looking to the start of the Championship as our main objective.
“There was no harm in (losing to Antrim). It made people realise, ‘Holy shit, we need to pull up our socks here. This isn’t going to just happen for us.’ A lot of players in stronger counties might think that it’s a given that you’re going to get to a semi-final stage at least, but that wasn’t the case. Everyone had to realise that it was going to take a lot of time and a lot of hard work and a lot of tears.
“We just had to have small little goals, whether they were improving in the training field, having a good performance in a league campaign, having a good performance in Munster, whether it was a win or not. Just having those small goals was better than trying to say, ‘We’re going to get to an All-Ireland final,’ because that was never the case, that we thought that or could think that. It was starting on the first rung of the ladder and then once you’re on it, trying to get onto the next one and the next one.”
Come the summer, it was time to ramp things up a bit. And so, as Laura Hayes, Millie Condon and a few more noted after the final whistle on August 9, O’Connor put it up to them prior to the Championship opener in Athenry against Galway.
“When you’re talking to the group, you have to be kind of mindful of what you’re saying and when you’re saying it… when we got to the first round of Championship, that was the real starting point. We went through all that pain and that hardship, and I suppose it was time to be real with them and lay it on the line at a small bit. That there is this legacy of Cork camogie. There is this massive, you know, an empire if you want to call it that, of down through the years, whether we won or we lost, but of reaching All-Ireland finals, of winning plenty of them. A real high standard.
“I wanted to put to them that there is a little bit of a responsibility, and that comes with a little bit of pressure. ‘Has the empire fallen? Or are you gonna go out and prove otherwise?’
“I just put it to them, to have it in the back of their heads that there is a bit of weight with that jersey when you put it on.
“In saying that though, this year also brought a bit of freedom. There was no expectation on them from the outside world. Everyone thought that they mightn’t be the players to carry the torch. There’s a certain freedom comes with that. The shackles were off. Go and express yourself.”
All the ingredients came together with a big win at Kenny Park, an impressive semi-final defeat of Tipperary in FBD Semple Stadium and a 31st All-Ireland triumph – a 10th in which O’Connor was involved.
For all the above reasons, it was one of the sweetest, even if being a coach/manager will never replace playing. Apart from her well-chosen words, O’Connor’s impact was evident in the defence conceding only goal in the entire campaign, and that in the dying embers of the opener in Athenry, when the game was already in the bag.
And it was visible too in the performances of Méabh Murphy, adopting the role vacated by Laura Treacy as centre-back/sweeper, the retired Killeagh great having stepped into the gargantuan shoes of O’Connor.
There is one more chapter in O’Connor’s playing story, however. Having called it a day after bagging her second county medal two years ago, she was on the line as the Barrs got within seconds of All-Ireland glory, only to lose to Athenry in a replay last January.
“It was inspiring to watch the girls last year. Brilliant. It was class for the club. What they achieved was amazing. But I suppose, in the back of my mind for the last year, even when I finished, I was kind of going, ‘Is there? Would I? Do I still? Would I be still interested in going back playing? Am I finished? Could I go back playing club? I was toying with that idea.”
Conversations with Brian O’Sullivan and some of the players led to a commitment to train. That led to a few League games and here we are.
“I can honestly tell you now, I have definitely finished after this!”
It has been tough going, particularly with coaching Cork, and not being able to attend training as much as she would like until the past couple of weeks. And then there is the increasing realisation that the body has not kept up with the mind.
But there are no regrets.
“I am glad I came back. I know after this year, that’s me done. But it’s been good, very enjoyable.
“Last year was unbelievable for the club. The girls were class to watch, I found them inspiring, and said, I wouldn’t mind playing a small bit of ball with them the following year. But it’s going to be very hard to replicate last year. The Cork Championship is so hard to get out of. We have one ACL, one recovering ACL and two girls abroad. So it’s going to be very difficult.
“But I am really enjoying it. And then that will be it. This isn’t a three-to-five-year plan! It’s a one-year only kind of a gig. Next year, the slippers will be on. I won’t be doing a tap.”
She might not line out but we can be fairly certain that when it comes to St Finbarr’s and Cork camogie, Gemma O’Connor will never be far away. And they will be the better for that.
