Ashling Thompson fatigued but fulfilled after All-Ireland win

By Paul Keane

That's seven All-Ireland senior camogie medals now for Ashling Thompson, 10 if you count the three she has also collected with her club Milford.

And each of them has come with an overarching tale, like the very first one with Milford in 2013, or captaining Cork to the All-Ireland in 2015, or returning from an ACL injury to land the big one again in 2023.

The narrative around the latest success was similar to 2023 as Thompson once again had to recover from a serious, season-threatening injury to play a key role in Cork's latest win.

The 36-year-old midfielder suffered a significant elbow dislocation and break during a League game last Spring, an injury that Cork manager Ger Manley said after Sunday's Glen Dimplex All-Ireland final win over Galway was 'one of the worst injuries I've ever seen'.

After returning to action ahead of schedule, she then suffered a hamstring tear in training ahead of the semi-final win over Tipperary. Oh, and a calf tear too, not that anyone outside the dressing-room knew.

"I actually had a 1B tear in my calf as well but luckily that was asymptomatic," said Thompson. "So I kind of just kept that under wraps to be honest with you."

And now, with the curtains finally drawn on the campaign and Cork's 31st All-Ireland win secured, Thompson simply feels jaded. Delighted, but spent.

She's still trying to process it all and is understandably unsure about returning in red for 2027.

"I'll have a good think over the winter, it's hard to decide," she said. "It's hard to know where I'm at when you've spent an entire season injured. Because everyone is like, 'Will you give it another go?' If you asked me now, and I was this tired, I'd probably say, 'No'.

"But I know that injury has dictated a lot of my season this year and probably is the reason that I feel so worn out, burnt out at times.

"So I'll have a think over the winter. A fella said to me the other day, 'If you think about it, that means you still want it'. Whereas if it's a straight no, that's when you know it's over. So I'll see. If I'm hungry for it again in the winter, I'll be back on."

Thompson's deep well of experience and leadership was badly needed this year as Cork, for various reasons, lost players of the calibre of the Mackeys, Aoife Healy, Hannah Looney and Laura Treacy from their lineup.

The half-back line that started Sunday's one-point win over Galway - Ava Fitzgerald, Méabh Murphy and Isobel Sheehan - was a brand-new one. Fitzgerald and Sheehan were featuring in a decider for the first time while Murphy essentially replaced Treacy.

Thompson could sense nervousness in the group ahead of the game and told them she felt the very same, that it was entirely normal.

Donal O'Grady, the former All-Ireland winning Cork hurling manager, is part of the backroom and intervened to help lighten the mood too.

"He had a thing before the match where we all had to take a pledge that we were all going to be northsiders for the day," smiled Thompson. "It was just simple things like that, to take your mind off the game, and everyone took the pledge! We were all northsiders for the day together."

Thompson is grateful to manager Ger Manley for allowing her to be part of it all again, particularly after the injury.

"I've never had a year where I've spent the majority of it out injured," she said. "So you'd obviously question yourself on match fitness, and all that kind of stuff. But I knew when the management gave me my spot, they must have believed in me in some way, shape or form.

"It really does go back to them and I have an awful lot to thank them for, because when I did come back from injury, it wasn't a case of just because you're Ashling Thompson you get the jersey back, you actually have to work for it. And that's what I did, that's what the team has done throughout the campaign.

"I needed to win that jersey back and I really wanted to be there on All-Ireland final day. So I'm just so grateful to the management that they gave me that chance, and that I was there at the final whistle as well. It meant everything."

Cork trailed by two points at half time against Galway but resolved to push up a little more and to place more pressure on the opposition's defence. Ciara Hickey had enjoyed a strong performance as Galway's sweeper, or seventh defender, until that point.

So along with returning to an orthodox three-person full-forward line, Cork also moved Thompson from midfield to the half-forward line, to give Hickey something more to think about.

It was one of the reasons why they were able to outscore Galway by 2-7 to 0-5 in the first 28 minutes of the second half, giving themselves a vital cushion for the keenly contested last few minutes.

"I knew Ciara Hickey was getting on oceans of ball as the plus one," said Thompson. "She was doing the same the last day against Kilkenny in the semi-final. She's a great player, but she got on oceans of ball and I knew she was making it quite difficult for our inside forward line to receive that delivery in.

"The idea in my head - the management were kind of giving me free rein - in my own mind I decided I was just going to stick with her and force her up the field to mark me basically, and that forced them to kind of sit somebody else back who I knew wasn't so comfortable, and that completely opened our forward line, which was perfect."