Tipperary camogie team warmed by McIntyre's 'Yellow Sunshine'

By John Harrington

There isn’t always a direct correlation between a player’s personality off the pitch and personality on it, but there certainly is in Clodagh McIntyre’s case.

At the launch of the 2026 Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Camogie Championships in Croke Park on Monday she bounced around the place with a smile on her face, exuding positive energy wherever she went.

Which is pretty much exactly how she plays when she pulls on a Tipperary jersey.

The Lorrha club-woman is the sort of player who gets a crowd buzzing thanks to her all-action style of play.

When she gets the ball in her hand her first instinct is always a positive one as she immediately tries to make something happen by putting on the after-burners and taking the most direct route to goal.

And out of possession she’s an absolute pain in the neck for the opposition because she relentlessly hassles, harries, chases, blocks, and hooks.

She’s the sort of Energiser Bunny player that’s invaluable to a team because she sets a tempo that others then strain to reach themselves.

“Yeah, I think as an individual I am quite high energy and I try to just be myself and that's probably when I play my best,” McIntyre told GAA.ie.

“The girls on the panel call me 'Yellow Sunshine' because I'm always so positive and full of beans. I don't always feel like that but camogie gives you that bit of freedom that you can just express yourself.

“I take big ownership over trying to keep the players around me in the game by talking to them and keeping that energy level up. As you've seen, the game has evolved so much over the last few years that if you switch off for a minute that could be detrimental.

“That's probably the best attribute I can offer to my teammates and I enjoy doing it. I love playing in a team sport. It probably comes a bit more naturally to me than maybe other people. But hopefully it makes a difference and I'm not annoying them!”

It’s a good thing McIntyre is a positive person because the Tipperary camogie team have had to endure some tough defeats in recent years.

They’ve put a huge effort into raising their standards so losing three All-Ireland semi-finals in a row has been extremely disappointing for a very committed group of players.

“Ah yeah, there's been some serious lows but, you know, even when the lows happen you're still a part of a team and you still find yourself coming back to train either the next day or the next year.

“You might reflect back and think, 'oh it was a bad year, we only got to the semi-final', but realistically it's actually the journey that you're a part of being able to play with the girls beside you that’s most important. They're your friends they're nearly like your sisters you spend so much time with them.

“I go to training in a car with Grace O'Brien, Caoimhe Maher, Áine Slattery and I actually probably see them more than I see my parents this time of year so you just form such good relationships with them and when you lose, we lose together it's not just you falling back on yourself it's falling back on the whole team.

“After the heartbreak of it happening initially, after a few days you can take a moment to reflect and realise, jeez, you're actually so close I have to stay at this.

“So even if you do lose by a point as heartbreaking as it is ,it is probably a little bit comforting knowing that you're within touching distance.

“It's the smallest thing that you actually have to change rather than going back to the drawing board and thinking we need to reinvent the wheel.

“We know that we're very close to the point of getting to that last step and I suppose that helps us keep engaged and encouraged for the year ahead. We've lost a lot but we're hoping to be able to put that to bed this year and take that last step further to the final.”

McIntyre also had the benefit of a very strong family unit to fall back on when Tipperary exited the championship at the penultimate stage in each of the last three years.

You might have witnessed that bond yourself if you tuned into the Season 9 of RTÉ’s Ireland’s Fittest Family in 2021 when Clodagh, her brothers Eoin and Niall, and father Aiden finished as the competition’s runners-up.

Eoin and Niall hurl with Lorrha, Aiden is the club Chairperson, and her mother Pauline is also heavily involved in the club so Clodagh is never short of an understanding ear or a word of advice, solicited or otherwise, on all things Gaelic games related.

“It's kind of nearly interwoven into daily life,” she says. “We live on a farm so any time you're going out to get the cows or bring them in, a hurling ball is in your hand. Same when you're rounding up the sheep, it's just kind of part of life.

“My Dad's the chairman so he's just at every event that's going on over in the pitch. I'd say if you ask the car to drive there with no driver in her it'll be able to get over to the pitch. I'm very lucky that I have a great support system behind and great knowledge as well.

“Sometimes when you're asking for input, it's great. When you're not asking for input, they'll still give it to you in terms of what you need to improve on!

“Ah no, it's great to have a family that's so involved and interested in the sport and I suppose that's probably what's shaped me as the player I am today.”

The McIntyre family and a good cohort of fellow Lorrha natives will be out in force at Semple Stadium on Saturday to roar Clodagh on against Waterford in the Munster Senior Camogie Final.

The match will be followed by Tipperary’s Munster SHC clash against Clare so the atmosphere should be crackling.

“Yeah, super excited,” says McIntyre. “Waterford will be exceptionally hungry for a bit of silverware because they've never won a Munster final before. They don't need any extra motivation only that they're playing us and it's a very tight rivalry anyway.

“They're a serious outfit, we're not taking them for granted, and we know they're going to try and throw the kitchen sink at it this weekend so we just need to be prepared for that, focus on our own game at the same time, and be able to match that energy.

“We’re playing on our home soil in Sample Stadium in front of a big Tipp crowd that will be coming in for the second match as well against Clare so we'll be buzzing.

“Any time you're contesting for a silverware you're going to be taking the occasion very seriously but it’s important not to let it get to you so much that you think you have to change anything.”

A Munster title would be a nice launch-pad for what promises to be a seriously intense All-Ireland senior championship.

A new format sees the competition split into groups of four (Group One) and six teams (Group Two) with last year’s All-Ireland semi-finalists – Galway, Cork, Tipperary, and Waterford – in the group of four.

The top two sides from Group One will go straight to the All-Ireland semi-finals with the third and fourth placed teams in Group 1 playing the top two teams from Group 2 in the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

The Group One matches are all bound to be ferocious contests between four quality teams, and as a physiotherapist by trade McIntyre knows what the Tipperary players do between those games will be vital to their chances of finishing in the top two places.

“There is going to be a huge emphasis on recovery between those matches,” she says.

“They will be three very tightly contested games and you want to be able to use them as a spring pad into the knockout series so you’re going in there with good confidence.

“We're going to have to be able to just think about consistency across those three games rather than bursting out at the start and then maybe losing all that energy coming into the second two rounds.

“It's just going to be chaos for them three matches over the four weeks but I do think it's a good idea.

“Other years we might have had games that we won by cricket scores but that doesn't really give you any information about where you are against them top teams.

“Like, at the end of the day, we want to win an All-Ireland final, we want to be playing the likes of Cork, Galway, Waterford.

“It will be hard but every time you're going out to play it should be a hard match that you're gearing up for. I think it's a good idea, but maybe ask me that again in a month's time!”

As much as McIntyre has loved the journey so far with Tipperary, she’s desperate to finally get to the ultimate destination of contesting and winning an All-Ireland Final.

The Premier County won five titles in six years from 1999 to 2004 but hasn’t won one since, and this generation of players are determined to end the famine.

“That's the dream,” says McIntyre. “Sometimes you have to remind yourself why you're giving up so much sacrifice and giving up so much time.

“At the end of the day that's the reason why you're there, that's the reason why it's brought this group together. It would mean everything. I've been playing with Tipp for the last 10 years.

“I only have two titles to show for it and you always want to be trying to add to it. It's great to be able to have silverware at the end of your career to reflect back on as a reward for all that sacrifice and giving up all that time.

“As an inter-county camogie player in this day and age it's nearly a thing you have to think about every single day between sleep, recovery, eating right, getting your gym done, showing up to train on time.

“It feels nearly like a full-time job and sometimes it probably is prioritised over my full time job.

“So it just puts all that to a place where it's been worth it and it makes you appreciate that all that effort is recognised.”