Cork camogie legacies are measured by the highest standards imaginable

Irish Examiner

20 hours ago

Cork looking to cement their greatness
Before last year's All-Ireland final, Linda Mellerick, one of Cork's greatest camogie players, and one of the best players to ever play the game, was asked to rate the Cork team. How good were they? How great could they become.
Mellerick has always been fearless and utterly forthright in her commentary so she didn't hold back when comparing this team with some of the Cork All-Ireland winning sides that had gone before them.
'There are some brilliant players on this team that would make any side of the last 50 years,' said Mellerick. 'But there are plenty of other players that wouldn't. Would this team compare with some Cork sides of the past? It's hard to say yet.'
The level of expectation has always been so high in Cork that legacies are measured by the highest standards imaginable. And nobody is more aware of those demands for excellence in the pursuit of securing acceptance and a place in the Cork pantheon than the players themselves.
In Cork, there is only one way to cement your legacy as a team – win as many All-Irelands as possible. 'We are not happy with just having the one All-Ireland under our belt,' Hannah Looney told Eoghan Cormican in these pages before last year's All-Ireland final. 'We really want to drive on and be a generational team, but that's not easy either. When you are from Cork, it is kind of what you are expected to do.'
Looney ran with that theme again after last year's win against Galway. 'What we want is to be a generational team,' said Looney. 'To win back-to-back is only the start of it. We'll keep going. It's something we've done in Cork before. What hasn't been done is the three-in-a-row.'
Cork have achieved three-in-a-row three times in their history, having won four in-a-row between 1970-'73. In the intervening 52 years though, Cork have been here before on seven previous occasions, having won successive titles in 1982-'83, 1992-'93, 1997-'98, 2005-'06, 2008-'09, 2014-'15 and 2017-'18. But they couldn't manage that three-in-a-row.
There were just two years – in 2007 and 2016 – where Cork put themselves in a position to win that three-in-a-row by reaching the final. But they were beaten in the 2007 decider by Wexford before going down to Kilkenny in the 2016 final.
The potential is there for Cork now to dominate the game again like they did in the early 1970s, especially with the level of underage talent coming through. More is never enough for Cork camogie teams, but the players know that there is only one way to gain entry into that pantheon.
And winning three-in-a-row now would go a long way towards securing this side's legacy.
Another 'Down' battle within another senior final
When Down won the All-Ireland Intermediate camogie title in 2020 for the first time in 22 years, they were driven to that maiden title by Niamh Mallon and Sorcha McCartan, who scored 2-5 between them. When Down won the Division 2 league title the following year, Mallon and McCartan combined for 2-7 in the final.
The promise of Down's future was reflected through Mallon and McCartan but McCartan had left within a year, while Mallon has since followed her former team-mate south, west to be precise, in the last year.
A work placement with Stryker sent McCartan to Cork 2021. She continued to travel home for a gruelling 800km round trip to play for Down but a move to the St Finbarr's club was followed by a switch of county allegiance for the Castlewellan native who is a daughter of Greg McCartan, an All-Ireland winner with Down from the early 1990s.
For Mallon, the move west took a lot longer, even though the Portaferry native has been living and working in Galway since 2018. A sports scientist at Galway-based firm Orreco, where she conducts the company's Redox testing, Mallon eventually transferred to club powerhouse Sarsfields mid-way through the 2024 league, having found it untenable to continue the commute to play for Down and Portaferry.
By the end of last season, Mallon had picked up an All-Star, becoming the first player from Ulster to win an award in 15 years. Mallon is just the fifth player from the province to secure that accolade.
McCartan though, has what Mallon craves, with McCartan having won successive All-Irelands with Cork. On Sunday, Mallon and McCartan go head to head again, trying to maintain a remarkable sequence of winning All-Ireland medals as Down players in different coloured jerseys.
Kerry looking to write a glorious new history
In the dying seconds of last year's Kilkenny-Kerry All-Ireland Intermediate camogie semi-final in Thurles, Kerry's Ellen O'Donoghue was desperately scrambling to get off a shot in front of goal to try and raise the green flag Kerry needed to win the game. She was blocked and hustled out of possession by three Kilkenny defenders. As soon as the ball was cleared, the full-time whistle blew Kilkenny were elated to have come through a titanic battle after extra-time, winning by two points. Kerry were devastated after defying all the odds in their first All-Ireland Intermediate semi-final, but they had shown the wider camogie world what they were capable off.
'Kerry should hold their heads up massively high,' said Kilkenny manager Seamus Kelly in his post-match TV interview. 'They are a great side. They have great players. Kerry have done their county so proud today.' The performance reaffirmed what the squad were capable off, especially when Kilkenny went so close to winning the title, losing the final to Cork by just one point. Kerry were more ambitious again ahead of the 2025 campaign when a restructuring of the Intermediate championship made it no longer open to competing senior counties.
Kerry have incrementally been getting more competitive but taking that critical next step has always been a struggle for counties with Kerry's history and profile. Relegated from Division 1B in the league last year, Kerry failed to gain promotion from Division 2A this season, none of which was helped by the upheaval in the middle of the spring with a change of management.
After getting hammered by Offaly in their opening league game, manager Brian Darcy and coach Paul Lillis departed on the eve of their second round clash with Meath in Lixnaw. Two other coaches part of that management team, Aidan Boyle and Pete Young, stepped in and guided the side to wins against Meath, Armagh and Carlow before John Madden was appointed manager ahead of Kerry's last league game against Derry.
Madden had managed Clanmaurice to successive All-Ireland Intermediate club championship wins in 2024 and 2025, having built up huge experience alongside Eddie Murphy.
Progress has been solid ever since with Kerry defeating Down in the semi-final four weeks ago to advance to a first final now against Offaly. The Leinster side are hot favourites but Kerry have been on a mission since last July to atone for the heartbreak of that semi-final defeat to Kilkenny.
And to rewrite a glorious new history for Kerry camogie.
O'Mullan seeking more All-Ireland glory
Not long after PJ O'Mullan stepped down as Derry senior camogie manager last autumn, he got a call from Armagh. They had seen what O'Mullan was capable off, especially after he'd led Derry to All-Ireland Intermediate glory in 2023. Derry had retained their senior status last year with wins against Antrim and Limerick. So Armagh didn't hang around in trying to snap up O'Mullan ahead of the 2025 season.
It's been rare for a manager to take two different counties to All-Ireland finals within the space of two years but O'Mullan has managed it again now with Armagh, who face Laois in Sunday's Junior final.
O'Mullan has certainly put his own stamp on the side, having regenerated it with youth. The team which beat Roscommon in the semi-final two weeks ago had four minors on the pitch. 'The younger players have no fear,' said O'Mullan after that win against Roscommon. 'They have no baggage.' O'Mullan has also brought a winning pedigree to Armagh as a manager, having led Loughgiel Shamrocks to the 2012 All-Ireland club hurling title. During his six years in charge, O'Mullan also guided the Shamrocks to four Antrim and four Ulster titles.
Having previously led his club, and the Derry camogie side, to All-Ireland wins in Croke Park (although Derry won that Intermediate final in Clones after a replay), O'Mullan certainly knows what it takes to get the job done at Headquarters.