Cork camogie players hail ‘we before me’ team attitude

If it’ll be remembered, it’ll be remembered for one passage of play. Why not begin with the woman who hit the free that won it?

Cork camogie players hail ‘we before me’ team attitude

By Michael Moynihan

If it’ll be remembered, it’ll be remembered for one passage of play. Why not begin with the woman who hit the free that won it?

“I’ll take it,” said Orla Cotter, who nailed the match-winner.

“Some fella told me it was a controversial free, I didn’t mind. I’d take it either way — we could probably have claimed a few more controversial frees during the day.

“Look, we’ll take it, it went over the bar. I missed an easier one earlier. I knew there was only a minute or so left. But I was just praying it went over, and it did.

“Myself and Chloe [Sigerson] put plenty of time in before training most days, practising our frees, and she hit some lovely ones today as well. It’s fantastic.”

Cotter was joined by Gemma O’Connor, who’d put in another huge shift for the champions.

“I don’t know why we do it to ourselves, a point in it . . . at half-time the message was to keep our composure.

“Beforehand you’re trying to get yourself riled up, to get into the right frame of mind, the fighting attitude — then at half-time it’s all about ‘this is where we are now and we need to be composed’. It’s no time to lose your head.

“We knew it’d be a tight game from start to finish. The championship has been quite open but we knew the final would be so defensive, we don’t give each other an inch. I don’t know what way it is to look at, sometimes you’d wish the play would open up a small bit, but you just want to win at all costs, that’s the bottom line.”

Was this year more satisfying than last season?

“Yeah, last year was magic,” said O’Connor. “I think it’s a sign of a great team to be able to replicate it when the pressure is on — when it’s almost easy to throw your hat at it and give in. There’s nothing left in the tank and you’re trying to stay as composed as you can. It paid off for us today.

“There’s no room out there for hotheads. Sometimes I get a bit hotheaded but we’ve learned down through the years. We’ve worked on this the last few years, to keep composed, to keep going, that at the right time the right player will step up. And for us today it was Orla, who scored a great point.”

Cotter herself was keen to share the credit: “For me it was every player, really. Aoife Murray saved a goal just a couple of minutes beforehand, someone else got a hook or a block in.

“It was a team performance, and we’ve been working on that with management. It’s the ‘we before the me’, and we’ve been working on that even last year — it doesn’t matter who scores, who saves, we all defend and attack together.

“That’s what stood to us towards the end. It’s heartbreaking for Kilkenny, two years in a row, and you have to acknowledge that as well. They’re a fantastic team and it could have gone any way towards the end.”

A point in two All-Ireland finals. Why is it so hard to separate the two sides?

“I don’t know,” said Cotter. “We meet each other quite often now and they’ve gotten the better of us in two league finals now. I think we’ll take the win in the championship any time. The rivalry is there between Cork and Kilkenny for years.”

O’Connor attributed the narrow margins in part to the new tactics in camogie.

“Starting out it was 15 on 15, you minded your own patch, your own player, and you capitalised on what happened next. Now it’s so tactical . .. I wouldn’t say it’s a negative thing, Kilkenny are at it, the lads footballers are at it, the hurlers are at it, it’s about outsmarting your opponent.

“But at the end of the day it’s also about the player on the ball, the decision-maker, and the players making the run to create space, running to the corner flag so the ball can be hit into space.

“It’s about smart people making smart decisions. This game is all about decision making.

“You asked why it’s so tight between Cork and Kilkenny — I think it’s because we’re so similar, the teams are physical, skilful, the panels show extreme skill, talent and workrate. That’s why there’s so little between us.”

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