Paudie Murray and Brian Dowling have spoken highly of their teams after a dramatic game in the All-Ireland camogie semi-final
Cork 0-15
Kilkenny 1-11
Paudie Murray explained the decision to leave out skipper Linda Collins as a requirement for impetus from his bench and that call proved a masterstroke, as the Courcey Rovers forward was a danger for all 14 minutes of her involvement, concluding with a dramatic winner as the clock just wound into the fourth and final minute of injury time.
It was a stunning conclusion to a riveting affair that Cork dominated, for the most part, the wonderful Chloe Sigerson shooting five points.
On the red card for Cronin, Murray said to not have seen the incident but felt that Katrina Mackey should have had a penalty when Meighan Farrell came from nowhere to deny the full-forward a goal.
Yes, the letter of law and all that, yes we are biased but we are also privileged to be aware of Orla Cronin’s DNA from both sides and believe me, she does not deserve to miss the @OfficialCamogie senior final with @CorkCamogie in 2 weeks time. pic.twitter.com/6Ty8wx1Cyf
— Paudie Palmer (@PaudieP) August 29, 2021
“I thought our first half was good, but our third quarter killed us. We spoke about a lot of things during the week and I think some of them went out the window. That 15 minutes really annoyed us. But I suppose Kilkenny were always going to have their period of dominance so I thought we showed great composure and great character. I think the team is starting to develop its own character,” said Murray.
“It takes a small bit of time for a new team to develop a new personality in the dressing-room and new characters. I think they are starting to do that.
“This is a very young team. Ciara O’Sullivan is 19, Fiona Keating 20, we have a lot in around the 21/22 years. This is a big day out for them. I thought we managed it very well.”
Brian Dowling, who had won an All-Ireland in his first season as manager last year, having previously served as deputy to Ann Downey, was understandably downbeat.
“The first half was a bit disappointing. I asked the girls for more energy and in fairness, they brought that to Cork and in fairness to these girls over the last number of years.
“They’ve died with their boots on for Kilkenny camogie.”
“I can’t ask for any more of them since I’ve been involved with them and unfortunately there are just days like this when you come up a little bit short and we’re just going to have to lick our wounds now.
“We got a great goal and we even pushed on to go a bit up but we probably needed to go (more) up. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen today.
“I don’t think we hurled as well as we could, especially in that second quarter of the first half, we probably didn’t score too much in that quarter but I can’t fault these girls for the effort and they’ve been great champions. Any time you play Cork, there’s never been anything between them and, we got the lucky breaks last year and they got them today.”
He hailed the character of his players.
“It wasn’t easy for these girls to lose three All-Irelands; it would have been easy to pack it in and retire but players like Collette Dormer, Denise Gaule, and Katie Power – what she’s gone through to get on the pitch is unbelievable. They’ll do anything to play, injections, whatever.
“Kellyann Doyle was only passed fit last night.
“How she was able to play that match I’ll never know. She couldn’t raise her arm on Friday evening.”
“I can’t speak highly enough of these girls – they’d die for the Kilkenny jersey. There’s a great bond in that group, but it’s so disappointing when you lose. You learn a lot more when you lose so you have to move on from here.”
It’s an absolute privilege to be involved with this @KilkennyCamogie team as sport scientist for the past two years. The epitome of hard-work, resilience and commitment. A group that I have learned so much from over the past 2 years, who are wonderful ambassadors for the sport. pic.twitter.com/ScHxNELi82
— Philip Connors (@philipconnors02) August 30, 2021
SCORERS FOR CORK: O Cronin 0-6(5fs); C Sigerson 0-5 (1f); K Mackey, F Keating, S McCarthy, L Collins 0-1 each
SCORERS FOR KILKENNY: D Gaule 0-7(fs); M O’Connell 1-0; K Power 0-2; K Doyle, K Nolan 0-1 each
CORK: A Lee, P Mackey, L Coppinger, M Cahalane, L Hayes, L Treacy, S McCarthy, H Looney, A Thompson, C Sigerson, F Keating, C O’Sullivan, A O’Connor, O Cronin, K Mackey. Sub: L Collins for O’Sullivan (50)
KILKENNY: A Norris, M Teehan, C Dormer, D Tobin, K Doyle, M Farrell, C Phelan, D Gaule, G Walsh, M Walsh, K Nolan, M O’Connell, S Fitzgerald, K Power, A Doyle. Subs: L Murphy for Fitzgerald (38), N Deely for Teehan (48), M Kenneally for A Doyle (55)
