By Daragh Ó Conchúir, at Croke Park
There’s diminutive and there’s Fiona Nelligan but the pint-sized Charleville forward showed composure to go with character to snatch an injury-time winner for Cork to win the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland intermediate camogie final against Kilkenny, 1-11 to 1-10.
Nelligan (pictured above being mobbed by teammates after the final whistle) says she stands at five feet but after yesterday’s heroics, she is now feeling ten feet tall.
Injury had struck at the very wrong time of the season for the pacy attacker but when the need was greatest, she answered the call of manager Donie Daly to secure a first championship victory at this level for the Leesiders since 2018.
It was a loose clearance that led to the sliotar landing in Nelligan’s paw. What, you wonder, was she thinking when it arrived?
“Oh God, just hit it over the bar! Just get it over the bar. That’s all I was thinking,” said Nelligan afterwards with a laugh.
And when she did that? What was she thinking then?
“Blow it up!” More laughs.
“It’s unreal, I can’t describe the feeling, it’s unreal. I’m only back from injury so I was delighted with any time on the pitch and to be able to make a difference.
“I broke a bone in my wrist and missed six or seven weeks. I was running by myself but I couldn’t do any hurling until three or four weeks. It’s worth it now.”
It was nip and tuck throughout, with Cork going in at half-time leading by 0-7 to 0-6.
Cliona Callaghan goaled, apparently to send the Rebels on their way but when Danielle Morrissey’s shot for point was mis-controlled to the net by Ciara Hurley, it was Kilkenny pushing for home, a couple of points clear.
But Cork defended magnificently and hit the last three points, Lauren Homan bringing them level before Nelligan’s dramatic denouement.
“The heart isn’t good after that,” admitted Daly. “It was phenomenal. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Kilkenny and Cork, All-Ireland final is going to be a one-point game always.
“We knew when we were a point up at half-time we’d a good chance. I thought we’d make a better fist of the wind. Kilkenny hit us hard but the changes we made and I’m saying this the whole time, when we bring on the likes of Eimear Duignan, Katie Walsh, Fiona Nelligan, Lucy Allen, they’re game changers.
“And when the likes of Avril Cashman had put in an awful shift and their legs were giving out, and the likes of Cliona Dooley, who were immense, it was the fresh legs that got us over the line in the end.”
He had a word for the defence too.
“It was the same the last day, Aoife Barrett got player of the match. And today, Emma Flanagan got it. Our team is built on solid defence. We don’t give away easy scores and that makes it easier for our forwards.”
Daly’s Kilkenny counterpart, Seamus Kelly expressed pride in his charges.
“It’s a very lonely place but I think in fairness to that group of players, they left everything out there. I don’t think I could have asked any more of them, they left everything out there. The way they wore the jersey. They kept doing and the girls that came in. It was one of those days and we were just at the wrong side of it.
“In the first half, we just didn’t execute some of our basics well and Cork capitalised and got a few scores. When we settled into it, we got a hold of the game. When we got the goal, it really spurred the thing on but in the last few minutes of the game it was so tight and it came down to fine margins.”
