BY KIERAN McCARTHY
THE return of All-Star Laura Treacy was one of the huge positives from Cork’s latest All-Ireland senior camogie championship Group 2 win.
In a 2-19 to 1-4 rout of Clare in Cusack Park that guaranteed Cork’s progression to the knock-out stages with two games to spare, Treacy’s comeback from a hamstring injury is a timely boost for the All-Ireland champions.
Treacy came on in the second half as Cork blitzed Clare by 18 points, with Amy O’Connor and Orlaith Cahalane hitting 1-5 and 1-4 respectively for the group leaders.
‘We’ve a super half-back line and Laura Treacy came back, which is a huge plus,’ Cork boss Ger Manley said.
‘Aoife Healy, Izzy (O’Regan) and Laura Hayes have been playing outstanding for us and it’s making competition for places. Pam (Mackey) was sick, Gráinne Cahalane came in and did okay.
‘We need to get a bit of game time into Laura. You can’t get challenge matches from now on. We’re playing games amongst ourselves but you can’t beat a bit of time on the field so 20 minutes will help her.
‘She’s a phenomenal player, one of the best players for the last ten years in camogie. It’s a huge plus to have her back.’
With wins over Wexford, Down and now Clare, Cork know they will be assured of a spot in the next round, with two home games to come – the Rebels play Dublin on June 22nd and Galway the following week, with the last game likely to decide who progresses directly to the last four as group winners.
‘It was about qualifying,’ Manley said after the all-to-easy win against Clare.
‘Once we won today we were qualified for the quarter-final stage with three matches won and that was the target. We started very well, I thought. We lost the toss and played with the wind.
‘The one thing we will have to improve against the better teams is to take our chances. We created a lot of goal chances and just didn’t take them. Clare worked hard all through the game but we were well on top and the second half was a non-event really.’
