Lauren Homan still delivering for Cork
Cork's Lauren Homan will be playing in the highly anticipated Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Camogie Championship Finals taking place as a triple-header on Sunday, August 11, showcasing the pinnacle of camogie talent at the iconic Croke Park.
By Cian O’Connell
Lauren Homan is fully aware of the pleasure or pain an All-Ireland final at Croke Park can bring.
Having won two senior titles for Cork, Homan, who captains the Leesiders in Sunday’s Glen Dimplex Premier Intermediate decider against Kilkenny, has relished productive days at the Jones Road venue. “Definitely, I have two All-Ireland senior medals in the back pocket,” Homan says.
“I have a loss in Croke Park, two years ago against Galway. So, I just want to keep the winning tally going at the weekend because Croke Park is the loneliest place in the world you can be on All-Ireland final day, on the defeated end.”
Homan benefited from operating alongside experienced Cork campaigners when emerging as a talented teenager in a successful outfit. Valuable lessons were learned. “As captain you feel the girls might look up to you anyway,” Homan says.
“When I went into the seniors, I was 17. I was in that position once, but I had the likes of Gemma O'Connor and Aisling Thompson taking me under their wing. They did a great job of it. So, I'll try to pass that on to the girls.
“We've the likes of Edel Sheehan, Emer Duignan, coming in with us. They are quiet girls, they wouldn't be the most outspoken, it hasn't just been me taking them in, it has been a whole team effort.
Cork's Lauren Homan celebrates after the 2018 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Final at Croke Park. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
“We are family, that is how we consider ourselves. We've basically taken our little sisters in with us.”
Assisting others is crucial according to Homan. “Everyone is different, I suppose, for me, I definitely wouldn't be getting too worked up,” she says.
“Some of the younger girls coming in, like when I was young, I probably would have got worked up on All-Ireland final day, and I would have been nervous. So, I feel when you've been around the block a bit more, you get used to it, and enjoy the moment more.
“I'll be trying to feed that back to the girls, you never know when your last day in Croke Park will be, so you need to take it in, enjoy every moment, and don't let the nerves get the better of them.”
Cork will feature in two finals at Croke Park this weekend, but the collection of emerging and established players in the Intermediate panel remain eager to develop. “There was a bit of fluency at the start of the year for the league,” she says. “Once the league finished, that was it, we were completely separate. You had your panel of 30, that was that.”
There is joy in the journey for Homan. “It is an amateur sport, we don't get paid for it, you do it for the love of the sport, you do it for the friends you make,” she says. “100 per cent it is a big, big commitment, but it doesn't feel like that, not when you're playing and love the sport.”