CORK manager Matthew Twomey feels his team is designed to handle the pressure of a showdown with bogey team Galway this Saturday.
The two counties clash in a 2023 Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie semi-final in Nowlan Park (5.30pm, live on RTÉ2), with Galway having won all three meetings between the teams this season, including the Division 1A league final.
But Twomey is pleased with the character his side has shown in recent games, including the dethroning of All-Ireland champions Kilkenny in the quarter-final.
‘In the last four or five games, we have gone in under fierce pressure. The Down, Clare and Kilkenny games were all do-or-die,’ Twomey explained.
‘They are all huge pressure games, and we’re getting used to them and dealing with them better. That’s what you have to be happy about. If the pressure does come on Saturday, which I’m sure it will, we’ll find out if we can cope as well as we did previously.’
The Rebels are hitting form at the right time but league champions Galway pose the biggest test so far. Cork haven’t beaten them since 2017.
‘Galway are a seasoned team. They are well used to these kinds of games too and they have had a lot of success,’ the Cork boss said.
‘They’re going to be coming down full of confidence. They’ll be happy enough with the draw seeing as they’re not overly familiar with Waterford or Tipperary.
‘We have been beaten three times by Galway this year. We’re totally up against it but maybe that is the game we can relish. We need a top performance, we’re training very hard at the moment and that is the message going out to everybody.’
Cork's Laura Tracey and Aoife Doyle of Kilkenny in action in the All-Ireland quarter-final. (Photo: INPHO/Bryan Keane)
Beating Kilkenny 2-14 to 2-13 in the quarter-final was a big boost to this Cork team – and Twomey recognises this.
‘You’d be happy with the character of the team. We showed a lot of steel at the end, which people questioned beforehand. We put ourselves in a good position in the game but we probably should have had the game wrapped up before it came to that,’ he said.
‘We missed a few chances and there were a few ridiculous refereeing decisions as well. We pulled it out at the end, which was a great boost. We’re improving all the time. When the players stick to a process, they’ll get the fruits from it. The more we go on in the year, it becomes more relevant to us.’
Getting their shooting accuracy on point is a top target for this Cork team. It was 56 percent against Kilkenny. A decent return, but still lots to work on.
‘Every game this year, I think we won every stat against our opposition except the conversion rate. We were in the 75 percent range in the two games previous (against Down and Clare). I know the opposition weren’t at the standard of Kilkenny but that is the number we have to be getting, 60 to 70 percent would be the minimum to us,’ Twomey admitted.
Being able to close out the game was an encouraging sign too, especially when Cork hadn't done so in previous big games.
‘That comes with experience. We’ve highlighted a lot of times that we took the lead in games and got caught. That was a massive plus the other day,’ Twomey acknowledged.
Aisling Thompson, Orla Cronin and Laura Hayes coming back from injury is a timely boost as well. There was one stage in the season where Twomey was talking about the squad being as tight as 19 players due to injuries or dual clashes. He now has as close to a full deck as he has had all season.
‘You saw a lot of players out with long-term injuries and your heart would go out to them. To have them back in full flow is a huge lift,’ the Cork manager said.
‘What it does too is it puts ferocious pressure on the 15 on the field. They’ll be looking over at the sideline thinking that they have to put in their best or else they’re gone. Even at that, we want the players to empty the tank for up to 40 or 50 minutes.
‘The intensity and tempo has gone up in training because they know they’re fighting for their place on the field or even for the first five to come on as subs.’
The other semi-final will be the curtain-raiser at Nowlan Park, as Waterford take on Tipperary (3.30pm).
