Latest news with #Cork-Galway
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Expect a tight finish, but Cork can travel alone to new heights
A third Cork-Galway final in five years. The only pairing that guarantees a competitive final. The only pairing that guarantees Cork will not coast to three-in-a-row. The only pairing that brings the absolute best out of Galway. This is the final camogie wanted, needed. Whatever about desperately one-sided League deciders or early summer non-events, whenever Cork and Galway pitch up at Croke Park together, they usually go to the wire together. The 32 white flags raised 12 months ago was an All-Ireland camogie final first, re-emphasising how these two teams are continually raising the bar. Galway drove the standard at the beginning of the decade. The relationship has since taken on a red hue. Whatever height Cork climb to, Galway are typically found on their heel. So was the case 12 months ago when the Leeside favourites had to find a late three-in-a-row, after going scoreless for 13 minutes, to take the title by that very margin. Are Cork stronger than 12 months ago? Yes, but only marginally. Cruciate victim Izzy O'Regan is a loss in defence. Against that, Meabh Cahalane didn't start last year's decider because of injury. Younger sister, Orlaith, is another year further on in her development and the damage she is capable of wreaking, although she'll have been disappointed with her scoreless semi-final contribution. There are others in Cork's middle third, including Ashling Thompson, that know an improvement on their Nowlan Park showing is demanded. Katrina Mackey's return from injury and return to form has been perfectly timed. Her retention at corner-forward means Clodagh Finn will, for the second final in-a-row, be used for bench impact. Finn, though, is a completely different force returning to Croke Park. Her starting role across the group phase saw 4-7 racked up. Cork are stronger than 12 months ago for the semi-final challenge presented by Waterford. Galway won't go plus-two in defence as the Déise did, but Cork, for the first time in 2025, had to problem solve. They also had an openness in defence that will have been since addressed. Although Galway have back in their defence Shauna Healy and Emma Helebert, a pair of All-Ireland winners absent last year, they are overall weaker for the missing Áine Keane (cruciate), Niamh Hanniffy (traveling), and incomparable Niamh Kilkenny. Even their bench is a paler complexion of 12 months ago. Where there is encouragement for again pushing and possibly outlasting the champions is their improved form coming in. The teams ranked three, four, and five - Waterford, Tipp, and Kilkenny - were bettered by six, seven, and eight points respectively. From midfield up, you can count six potential matchwinners on the Cork side. For Galway, too much of the responsibility falls on Aoife Donohue, Niamh Mallon, and Ailish O'Reilly. 53 years on from Cork's most recent three-in-a-row, Ger Manley's side can travel alone to new heights. Verdict: Cork
Irish Examiner
6 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Molloy calls on supporters to back players, as they did during skorts debate, on final weekend
Camogie President Brian Molloy is targeting a record All-Ireland final attendance of 40,000, challenging every single person who weighed in on the skorts debate to be present at Croke Park for Sunday's decider. Camogie came under intense scrutiny, both locally and internationally, when inter-county players protested against the mandatory wearing of skorts during May's provincial championship fixtures. Cork and Waterford's refusal to wear skorts for their Munster final led to the fixture being pulled less than 24 hours before throw-in, with a hastily convened Special Congress two weeks later voting in choice and the option to wear shorts on matchday. Ahead of this Sunday's All-Ireland final triple-header at GAA HQ, Molloy called on the politicians, commentators, and social media influencers who spoke out during the skorts debate to now turn their words into action by supporting the same players in person. Waterford reaching a first All-Ireland final in 78 years contributed to a record 30,191-crowd at the 2023 decider. That remains the sole All-Ireland camogie final where the attendance surpassed the 30,000 mark. Last year's Cork-Galway showpiece was watched by 27,811, with Molloy hopeful of a significant leap to 40,000 for this latest instalment between the counties. 'The amount of focus we had on camogie in the month of May, a huge number of people all across the country, and internationally, took time out of their lives to comment online, to do TikTok videos, WhatsApp posts, Instagram posts, Facebook, Tweets, and all that carry on. It was hugely welcomed because we got a massive change into our game as a result of that focus. 'But the message all those people had was it wasn't about jumping on the bandwagon, it wasn't about self-promotion, it was actual genuine support for these women and for the women across the country who play camogie. I have no doubt whatsoever that that is absolutely true, but in order to manifest that properly then, they need to light up their social media as much this week as it was lit up in May,' said Molloy. 'This time the message should be to all of their followers, and all of their constituents because there were a lot of politicians, senators, TDs, Ministers involved, they need to communicate the importance of actually physically supporting the players, not just verbally supporting the players, and that means turning up to Croke Park. "Demonstrate physical, tangible support for the women that in May they called on the Association to support.' After sold-out All-Ireland hurling and football finals, 48,089 turned up for the Dublin-Meath ladies football final last Sunday, while it would represent a massive step forward for the Camogie Association if they were to achieve Molloy's stated aim of half filling the venue this weekend. The Camogie president said the gender-rooted disparity in crowds does not reflect well on society. 'The fact that the split is on a gender basis is not good from a societal perspective. We really need to get better at actually putting into practice the support we espouse for female participation in sport, the support we espouse for equality and equity in sport. It needs to be reflected on the ground and on the seats of Croke Park. 'There was a huge crowd up for the Kerry footballers for their All-Ireland final. Are they all going to come up and support Kerry camogie, and if not, why not? Cork are going for three-in-a-row. Everybody who went to the hurling final should be coming up and supporting these ladies. 'Galway and Armagh were in the All-Ireland football final last year, huge crowds came up. The same crowd needs to be coming up this Sunday to support the Galway and Armagh camogie teams. Offaly and Laois are huge GAA counties and there is huge focus when the men get into finals. It needs to be the exact same with the women. 'Anybody in those six counties who positions themselves as a supporter of Gaelic games, you need to go beyond positioning yourself as a supporter of Gaelic Games, you need to actually turn up on Sunday and support the women from your county.' In their most recent Strategic Plan, the Camogie Association put in writing a 50,000-attendance target for the 2026 All-Ireland final. The long-term plan is to someday fill Croke Park entirely, with Molloy wanting an end to the mindset where there is zero expectation of a camogie final full house. 'We have to break away from that and the only way we break away from that is everybody getting their head around the fact that there is absolutely no reason why we can't have 82,000 for a camogie final. 'You need to do more than just a TikTok video or a message somewhere to say, I support the camogie girls. Great, really appreciate that, but we actually need you to come in and support the camogie girls.' Molloy said the 5.15pm senior final throw-in was not a Camogie Association call and was instead dictated by RTÉ's broadcast schedule. 'We will look at it and see can we get it brought forward an hour earlier [from next year] - that would make it easier. It means it's quite late when particularly younger ones are getting back home. It's not our decision to put it on that late.' Adult tickets for the triple-header are priced at €30, €20 for OAPs, €15 for students, €10 for juveniles, while a four-person family deal is also available at €17.50 a ticket.
