Emma Murphy taking centre stage for Cork 

By Daragh Ó Conchúir

Ger Manley is talking about his new-look Cork camogie panel, but emphasising that the bottom line has never changed. The need for the majority to do the basics well, rather than a reliance on two or three of the box-office operators to constantly perform miracles.

The Rebels boss is in full flow looking ahead to the Leesiders’ sixth straight Glen Dimplex All-Ireland final on Sunday (4.15pm, live on RTÉ2), and a third on the trot against Galway, who scuppered their three-in-a-row bid last year.

He is delighted by the semi-final victory over Tipperary at FBD Semple Stadium, not just because it earned a reunion with the Tribeswomen at Croke Park, but because of the collective development of the group.

And unprompted, he throws another name out there.

“Look at Emma Murphy,” Manley asserts. “What a performance. Four points, and she's gone better and better this year. Like, she's a senior player now.

“The amount of running she did. The first point she got was on the right side. The next point she got was inside the 21. Next point she got from the left. Next thing she was receiving a ball from (goalkeeper) Amy Lee.

“And she was phenomenal in the League game against Waterford as well in Páirc Uí Rinn.

“But it’s her work rate. And look, it’s confidence. I was a confidence player. We’re all confidence players and Emma is playing with confidence.

“When things go right for you it’s great. But the thing about Emma this year that I think has changed, is that (when) one or two bad plays or things go against her – ‘Nah, it doesn’t matter.’ She’s just going on with it.”

The development is there in black and white. Murphy won her first senior All-Ireland in her fourth year on the panel as an unused substitute in the 2023 defeat of Waterford.

Twelve months later, the athletic finisher got just the tiniest of tastes, getting on in the third minute of injury time, but on the pitch as Galway were defeated to make it two in a row.

Last year, the result went against them, by the minimum and after playing the entire second half with 14 players following Hannah Looney’s dismissal just before half-time. Murphy emptied herself, scored two points into the bargain and only departing the fray in the 59^th minute. She ended the season with a Pwc All-Star nomination.

Her contribution was pivotal in Thurles, yielding those four points from play in the first half as Cork clinically availed of all 13 of their scoring opportunities to lay the platform for a five-point win.

But it was the continuing graft that stood out, the selflessness, and when Orlaith Mullins came on in her stead with a little more than eight minutes of regulation time remaining, it was because management felt the petrol gauge was beginning to blink after another Duracell Bunny display.

Murphy had no issue with being hauled ashore after playing so well and was not surprised to see Mullins contribute a brace of points herself in an impressive cameo.

“The A v B (games), as I’ve been saying all year, we’ve really put in a good bank of work and we knew we had girls to come off the bench,” Murphy declares.

“Orlaith Mullins was away at the start of the year but she came in there the last couple of weeks and again, just pushing every girl on in training. It really is 1 to 34 and I can’t say enough about everyone and the work they have put in.

“This is my seventh year in the team but we’ve had some really hard days this year so it just made the semi-final win all the more sweet. We know where we’re at now. We’re rebuilding our own team.

“You saw the young girls there – the likes of an Ava Fitz(gerald), the likes of Millie Condon, Izzy Sheehan. They’re coming in and making their mark.

“And the impact of our bench. Our A v Bs have just went from strength to strength the last few weeks. That’s a testament to how the Bs have been in training, that we were ready to start the way we did (against Tipp). And the impact of the subs that came on, it shows that we have just been pushing each other on.”

Seven years in and around the elite of the sport cannot but have a positive impact, if you are of a mind to learn. With such an overhaul of the squad, it places Murphy in and around veteran status.

“I’m only 24!” she protests. “I think this year is the first year where I kind of thought I’m a bit older but it’s been a great year. It’s been a different year for me but it’s been great.”

The considerable turnover in players, with a third of last year’s team gone and nearly half the panel, has placed demands on everyone. There was a loss to Antrim in the League and then defeat to Tipp at Semple in the Munster Championship.

All the while, the newcomers were building and learning, stewarded, not just by the likes of Ashling Thompson, Libby Coppinger, Méabh Cahalane, Saoirse McCarthy and Laura Hayes but by Murphy too, who knows the value of patience, of listening, of putting the shoulder to the wheel.

Reaching another final after hitting the depths of despair has proven unifying. They have emerged from the ringer a stronger group.

“We were just champing on the bit to get out there (for the semi-final). We were really ready for it. Sometimes when you have a lay-off, you come out cold but I felt we were so ready. I felt it coming up the road.

“The work rate was insane, especially in the first half. Tipp were always going to throw everything at us and they did that but this group, this year, it’s been a challenge. I feel like this year, more than any year, has been our most challenging year. We had 14 players that we lost from last year so we’ve been rebuilding but in Cork, the talent is there and it’s just about blooding them in as quickly as you can.”

She shrugs off her own scoring contribution, noting that she had not split the posts much prior to that in the championship, even though finishing is a strong point. It just isn’t the primary focus.

“We value the assists just as much as we value the scores, and the work rate and the hooks and the blocks.”

The Cork support has been notable throughout the season, even when optimism was in short supply. They were needed as Tipp mounted a comeback in the heart of the Premier County, part of a record attendance for the senior semi-finals of 10,311.

They will be required once more against familiar rivals. It’s a fourth Cork-Galway final in six seasons, with the westerners 2-1 up. There have been tumultuous semi-finals along the way too since the 2019 clash that set a new bar for camogie in terms of pace, precision and shuddering physicality.

“The last couple of years we were privileged enough that we have got to finals. This year, it was not a guarantee. Obviously, it’s not a guarantee any year, but this year in particular, we’ve really had to rebuild… so it’s that extra bit special this year, getting there with this new group of players.

“There’s so many players that haven’t played in an All-Ireland final and haven’t been on the panel so it’ll be a good buzz.

“We played Galway plenty times the last couple of years. We love playing Galway and I know they like playing us too. It’s easy to get up for it. And we know what we’re getting. We just have to match it and even go beyond it and hopefully we can come out the right side of it.”