BY GER McCARTHY
THE confetti had finished falling from the sky but the Cork management team and players were still floating on air following their magnificent All-Ireland senior final success.
Having run herself into the ground, Courcey Rovers’ Fiona Keating did her best to summarise Cork’s superb and hard-fought All-Ireland final victory.
‘What a game but we had the answers in the end,’ an exhausted Keating commented.
‘We knew coming up here today that we would be up against it. Just to finish it the way we did, the effort from our backline in the last ten minutes was exceptional.
‘We couldn’t have asked for anything more.
‘I think, you know, we always felt we had a target on our backs after winning last year’s final so coming up here to Croke Park and winning it again was really special.
‘There were two bus loads of Courcey Rovers supporters up here today. I have yet to find them so I must go off and see where they are!’
As Keating raced off towards the Hogan Stand in search of her club-mates, another famous Cork camogie stalwart was barely able to take it all in.
A six-time All-Ireland winner with Cork, Fiona O’Driscoll went on to coach the Rebels to 2005 and 2006 All-Ireland triumphs. Brought in as part of Ger Manley’s backroom team for 2024, O’Driscoll’s involvement proved a shrewd appointment.
‘It is a bloody relief right now and that's God's honest truth!’ the Cork selector commented.
‘It was so tight today, right to the end. Look, we have been there before and maybe it was that bit of experience and energy off the bench that made the difference in the end.
‘The players have just been phenomenal. They have trained so hard for this all year. We said all year how important our bench was. They were today again with the players who came on and made an impact.’
Méabh Cahalane, daughter of Cork and Castlehaven legend Niall Cahalane, missed most of the season through injury. Thankfully for Cahalane, she managed to make a second-half appearance off the bench.
‘I felt I had a role to play and possibly come on in the semi-final or final, like I did today,’ Cahalane said.
‘I just feel like that’s the mentality of our whole group. Whatever I can bring to the table, whether it’s starting, coming on, everybody plays a different role.
‘Going into the final, I was thinking about the hunger. I don’t think it went away from last year. We were so hungry for success this year, so hungry going out in every single training session trying to get something out of it.
‘I think that’s the standard that Liam Cronin sets as hurling coach.’
