Cork have gone to a new level - but still more to come, says boss Ger Manley

Irish Examiner

4 days ago

A frightening thought is Ger Manley's insistence that there is more to come from his team.
More to come from a team of untouchables who haven't been bettered in the championship since June 3, 2023. More to come from a team unbeaten in 20 championship outings.
More to come from a 'special' team that has recorded winning margins of 38, 18, 9, 25, and 10-points strong on the road to Sunday. More to come from a team whose largest concession total this summer is 1-11.
That last one requires second emphasis. In 60-plus minutes of fare this championship, no team - not even All-Ireland semi-finalists Tipperary or Waterford - could manage more than 12 scores off the Laura Treacy-led defence. The Déise had the temerity to actually lead Cork at half-time in the semi-final. Their punishment was to be limited to four points across the 35 second-half minutes.
Utterly dominant and utterly ruthless have the Cork women been, and now here is their manager telling us there's more in them. The Galway ears wouldn't want to be sensitive.
Manley is going through his backroom team. Coach for the '23 and '24 all-conquering campaigns, Liam Cronin left for the Limerick hurling dressing-room in the off-season. Limerick native and former Dublin boss Adrian O'Sullivan replaced him. Wesley O'Brien has taken their strength and conditioning work to a new level. Seamless switches and standards raised.
The backroom team contains 18 names. And that is before Ger mentions people like his predecessor, Matthew Twomey, who continues to lend a hand here and there. That's before he mentions sponsors, associate sponsors, MTU Cork, the Cork camogie board, the Cork County Board and their opening of the gym doors at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
It takes a village to meet the expectations of this Cork team. They've been perched atop camogie's summit for the past two years. Higher peaks, though, are forever being sought and climbed.
'The girls have gone to a new level in what they put in, so we need to match it as management,' Manley begins.
'I changed around selectors this year. Other people couldn't commit, so we brought people in. It is trying to improve us every year. There are loads of people giving small bits of work all the time in the background.
'It is for us to improve it, to show the girls that we are trying to max out their potential every year. Luckily enough, the last two years we have, but I still think there's more in this team.'
His players share that same view. They are never satisfied. Even before last year's All-Ireland final win over this weekend's opponents, Hannah Looney was speaking of a legacy. Back-to-back hasn't sated them. They want three-in-a-row, four-in-a-row, and however-many-in-a-row until they've squeezed every last ounce out of the collective.
'The lads probably put in seven nights, we are definitely putting in five or six. Most girls are doing something every day, be that individual gym work or skill work in a ball alley.
'Cork camogie are always there or thereabouts every year, but how we can get the best out of the group is the key. We have people looking to get involved. I never stop anybody getting involved if they can improve the atmosphere around the place. We've just a nice crew and we are trying to do our best.
'They are a special team, an exceptional team, and I think there's more in them. This is the fifth final in a row, which is brilliant for everybody involved, but we have lost a few as well. There is pressure every year to get back to Croke Park. To win is the key.'
So much of their winning at the business end of the summer these past three years has been attributable to the unrivaled quality they can roll in off the bench.
Cliona Healy, half-forward in last year's All-Ireland final, was the first sub introduced in the recent semi-final. She had a goal shot deflected out for a converted 45, won a pair of puckouts, and assisted an Orlaith Mullins point.
Mullins was the second sub in. The Sarsfields clubwoman had been lining out for the U23s when given her first senior championship start for the final round win over Wexford. She took Waterford for 1-2 in eight minutes.
Clodagh Finn, whose bench impact was central to edging Galway last August, was the team's second top-scorer from play ahead of the semi-final with 4-7. Injury sidelined her for that semi-final. Katrina Mackey slotted back into the starting fold after time out with an injury of her own. And with the latter marking her return with four points from play, Finn will either relegate some other starter to the Hogan Stand or herself be used for bench impact for the second final in-a-row.
'You need everybody fighting for their place. If they're not, they're no good to you. We don't want people in there just for the sake of it. The key for us is that we can turn around and go, 'right Orlaith, you're coming on', and know we trust her to perform. It does make a huge difference if you can bring on three or four fresh players with 10, 15, 20 minutes to go that will be as good as some of the players that are on.
'It's just to get players comfortable at performing at the level, performing under pressure. For me, it is always doing the right thing at the right time. I think that's where we have improved.'
Always improving. Never standing still. More to come.