BY KIERAN McCARTHY
SAOIRSE McCarthy’s first time back in Croke Park after Cork’s All-Ireland final triumph in mid-August saw her abseil off the roof of GAA HQ.
‘It was a different view!’ she quipped, and all for a good cause – the Rebels’ star is one of the facilitators with the GPA’s Movember ‘Ahead of the Game’ Programme, and abseiling in Croke Park kicked off their 2024 campaign.
‘We go around to different clubs and we give talks to kids and their parents about mental health. The hope is to create a mentally healthier and mentally fitter community,’ McCarthy explained at the recent launch of the announcement of eir as the official telco partner of the Camogie Association.
It’s just a short trip for the Ballinspittle woman to Croke Park these days as McCarthy has swapped home in West Cork for the brighter lights of the capital – she’s studying a Masters in digital marketing and content creation in Technological University Dublin (TUD), having completed a Sports and Exercise Management degree in MTU Cork.
‘It’s very different. I never lived out of home before so it’s a massive learning curve, but I’m learning loads,’ added McCarthy, who is sharing a house with fellow athletes, Antrim camogie star Roisin McCormack, Paralympian Nicola Turner and pentathlete Hannah D’Aughton.
The three-time All-Ireland winning Cork camogie star will take the change of pace, from Ballinspittle to Dublin, in her stride, just like she has with her rise to becoming one of the top players in the country.
Already a two-time All-Star (2022 and ’23), the Courceys woman is nailed-on to make it three-in-a-row at next month's awards, and is also shortlisted for the PwC GPA Player of the Year award; it’s the second season in a row McCarthy’s in the running for camogie’s top individual award.
If, as expected, McCarthy wins a third All-Star, she will equal Courcey Rovers legend Rachel Moloney’s haul of three. The odds are McCarthy, just 23 years old now, will swell her collection even more, but she knows the currency that really matters in Courceys.
‘You don’t measure success on All-Stars, you measure them on All-Irelands and they still trump me a fair bit. I have a bit to go,’ she explained, and even though she’s hitting the highest of heights on the inter-county stage, McCarthy never forgets her roots.
‘You start there and you finish there,’ she said of her home club packed with legends, like Rachel Moloney and Courcey camogie’s current manager Sara Hayes, both of whom won five All-Irelands with Cork.
‘Sara coached me underage, when we won the county U16B final when I was a year younger. I’ve learned so much from her and definitely wouldn’t be the player I am today without her.
‘You see the likes of Christine O’Neill who is an absolute legend and is kinda underrated in what she gives to the club; she filled boots this year that we were struggling to fill, went in goal for us and drove us, and that’s a testament to who she is.’
From Moloney and Hayes to McCarthy and her Courceys partner-in-crime Fiona Keating, now a time-time All-Ireland winner too, the club has no shortage of role models to inspire the next generation. They’re flying the Courcey Rovers flag on the grandest of camogie stages, and they’re having fun too – they’ve made sure to celebrate winning back-to-back All-Ireland senior titles, especially after losing the 2021 and ’22 finals.
‘We definitely enjoy it. One hundred percent. Otherwise, what’s the point? You have to enjoy it when it comes around because you never know when it’s going to come around again,’ McCarthy added, and these successes are made even more special as they’re shared with close friends who are living the same experiences. This is a tight Cork group.
‘We win together, we lose together. I’ve been playing with Cork since I was 18 and hopefully will be playing for a long time to come, you are spending so much time with these girls that you are eventually going to make friends,’ she explained.
Saoirse McCarthy in action for Cork.
‘It can be difficult to have friends outside of that bubble as well and make time for them as well, so your team-mates are the people that you see every single day and will continue to see them and go through stages of life together.
‘Myself and Laura Hayes have been playing together since we were 13; I would never have met her before because she plays with St Catherines and they’re an hour and a bit away from my house. We have grown up together, we have gone through school, gone through college and on to the rest of life now.
‘You can lose contact with your school friends or your home friends, but camogie can bring people together and we are a very tight-knit group.’
Talk of Cork’s possible three-in-a-row can wait until next year, for now McCarthy’s finding her feet in Dublin and enjoying what this new experience brings, like abseiling off the roof of the stadium she’s lit up on centre stage.
- eir, Ireland’s largest telecommunications provider, has been announced as the official telco partner of the Camogie Association and new sponsor of the Camogie U16 All-Ireland Championships for the next three years.
