Ciara O’Sullivan inspiring Newcestown’s next generation

BY KIERAN McCARTHY

THE day before the All-Ireland senior camogie final in August, a wide-ranging interview with Ciara O’Sullivan was released by the Camogie Association. The Newcestown star chatted about her role models, including one who is very close to home: Colette Desmond.

‘Colette was in with Cork teams and was definitely one I've always looked up to through underage. She was fantastic for Newcestown and it was just brilliant to see that someone from Newcestown, that’s not a city club or anything, can go and they can represent their county,’ Ciara said.

The following day Newcestown’s current camogie trailblazer put her club on the map, again, as the Rebels defended their All-Ireland senior camogie title, beating Galway in an epic in Croke Park with Ciara playing her role.

From those early training sessions with the Newcestown camogie team when Ciara was in awe of Colette Desmond’s skill levels, now the apprentice has become the master as it’s the club’s current Cork senior who, at just 22 years old, is the role model both in her club and in the Carbery hurling region.

Camogie star Ciara O’Sullivan with her parents Jackie and Richard.

‘I remember when I joined the Newcestown senior panel Colette was by far the best player on the team,’ Ciara told The Southern Star at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery as she added a West Cork Sports Star monthly award to her collection.

‘No matter how long she was away from camogie she would come back and her touch and strike would be perfect. I remember thinking that I wanted to be like Colette when I was older.’

The two-time All-Ireland minor winner has now added a senior All-Ireland medal to her collection, and a quick look through the Star archives reveal that in 2017 Colette Desmond handpicked then rising star Ciara, only 16 years old, as one to watch.

‘She’s fiery and skilful, just like her Uncle Jim. No pressure Ciara!’ Desmond quipped, and Ciara has taken that pressure and expectation in her stride – look at how she reacted to her ACL injury in a colleges’ game in early 2023 that sidelined her for the season. She put her head down and worked her way back to the biggest stage in the camogie calendar: the All-Ireland senior final.

‘It’s been a rollercoaster,’ Ciara says.

‘My first goal at the start of the season was to get back playing. To think that just playing was my first goal at the start of the year and then to win an All-Ireland final at the end of the year, it was amazing.

‘It was very tough coming back in at the start of the year, it was almost 11 months out at that stage. It was the wrong time of the year coming back into play, no-one was really training so it was tough. I had the opportunity to play with the intermediates and I was grateful for that. When I got called up to the seniors that's where I knew I wanted to be and I just drove it on from there.’

Ciara grabbed her chance with the Cork seniors. She had impressed at this level before, starting both the 2021 and ’22 All-Ireland finals, so her quality and class is no secret, but given the depth of quality in the county Ciara needed to prove herself again. She did. In the All-Ireland semi-final and final she was introduced off the bench, called on when the need was greatest. She got her reward: an All-Ireland senior medal, and the opportunity to bring the O’Duffy Cup to her home club.

‘I brought the cup back to the Newcestown camogie camp the week after the final and you could see it in the kids, they have never really seen someone bring back a cup like that to the club,’ she says.

‘It’s probably different for city clubs, they have players constantly coming to their summer camps with cups from here, there and everywhere. For country clubs, they don’t see that all the time and you could see the delight and joy in their faces. It meant so much to them, the boys and the girls.’

Those kids will never forget it was Ciara O’Sullivan who carried the O’Duffy Cup to Newcestown. She’s the new role model, inspiring kids just like Colette Desmond inspired her.

• Ciara O’Sullivan received a West Cork Sports Star monthly award for August in recognition of her role in Cork’s All-Ireland senior camogie final triumph.