Winning beats losing but more is learned in defeat than victory. What’s more, the pain of suffering a loss on the big stage can often be more of a motivating force than a hunger sated.
by Daragh Ó Conchúir
Kilkenny manager, David Maher felt that losing All-Ireland semi-finals at minor and U16 level last year helped fuel the Cats’ 3-8 to 0-8 Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor A camogie final victory over Cork at UPMC Nowlan Park yesterday.
A strong start that saw them go five points clear by the fifth minute thanks to a Molly Conroy goal, and then two second-half majors from player of the match Ona Kennedy and Emily Phelan cemented victory for the Noresiders.
Cork did not get the rub of the green, as they lost midfielder Catherine Murphy to injury in the 19th minute and then saw a second-half penalty by Rachel Murphy rebound of the crossbar at a time when a goal would have left just three points between the sides.
But the big plays were made by Kilkenny and that earned them an eighth title.
“I’m lost for words,” said Maher. “I don’t know what to say. It’s just unbelievable what the girls have done this year. You saw in the second half, the way we just powered on. It’s a testament to what they’ve put in over the last six, seven months. I’m just so happy.
“I think we got 1-2 in the first three or four minutes so we were delighted with that. IT was a great start. Cork probably got a little bit of a run on us then. Their half-forward line, Rachel Murphy and Ava McAuliffe were dropping out a lot and causing our half-back line a lot of difficulties. They were getting a run on us.
“Saying that we were up a goal up at half-time, a relatively decent position I suppose given we were against the breeze, but then we did kick on. We were very dominant. The girls were so confident in themselves and they just powered on from there.”
Kennedy was named player of the match and is one of a number of players that will be underage again next year.
“She’s only 17, she’s minor again last year. She’s been outstanding. The guys in her club would tell you, she’s out practising frees morning, noon and night down there for the last couple of months, her work ethic is phenomenal. But it’s a whole team effort. We’ve no superstars on our team. The girls are just all completely in it for the good of the group.
“The 17-year-olds were U16 last year and were devasted when they got beat by Limerick in the All-Ireland semi-final last year. We used that as motivation, and ourselves, the minors, got beaten by Tipperary in extra time of the semi-final and they went on to win it, so we felt we were always capable of doing something special.
“We had a meeting in training after the Cork game in the group and felt if we clicked, we were capable of doing something big.
“I just want to say that the girls deserve this so much and their families. We played a quarter-final up in Ballinasloe, a two and a half hour drive, we played the semi-final down near Abbeyfeale which is three hours from here, and all the parents, all the families were down there. So I want to give a huge thanks to the families of the girls, for getting them up to training three times a week for the last six months and a big thanks to the girls.
“I do wanna say to the Cork team, they’re a serious team, a lot of those girls are going to go on and play senior camogie for Cork but today belongs to the Kilkenny girls and they deserve it.”
SCORERS FOR KILKENNY: O Kennedy (1-1fs), E Phelan 1-2 each; N Davis 1-0; L, Boyd, C O’Shea, A O’Sullivan, S Shefflin 0-1 each
SCORERS FOR CORK: Clara Murphy 0-4fs; S Cronin 0-2 (1f, 1 45); A Mulkerrins, M O’Brien 0-1 each
KILKENNY: E Walton, C Power, G Brennan, J Smith, C Hickey, O Kennedy, T Aylward, R Phelan, E Doheny, L Boyd, A O’Sullivan, N Davis, E Phelan, C O’Shea, M Conroy. Subs: S Ruane for M Conroy (43), S Doheny for T Aylward (51), S
Shefflin for A O’Sullivan (57), R Hayden for C Hickey (58), J O’Brien for J Smith (59), R Hayden for C O’Shea (61).
CORK: A Kearney, A McGrath, L Ahern, S Cunningham, M Lombard, C Ryan, A Cussen, J Murphy, Catherine Murphy, R Murphy, Clara Murphy, A McAuliffe, A Mulkerrins, T Goulding, M O’Brien. Subs: C Kelleher for Catherine Murphy inj (19), A Cottrell for O’Brien (ht), S Cronin for Goulding (40), S O’Driscoll for Mulkerrins (58), K O’Sullivan for Kelleher (59)
