Cork camogie player Amy O'Connor with her Player of the Month award at the PwC offices in Dublin. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
By Cian O’Connell
“Nothing, but sheer and utter joy, memories I will never forget,” Cork Camogie captain Amy O’Connor says about the celebrations in St Vincent’s following the recent All-Ireland triumph.
O’Connor led by example scoring 3-7 as Cork defeated Waterford at Croke Park, but returning to Knocknaheeny with silverware mattered deeply.
“It was lovely to bring it back,” she says. “On the way to the club we stopped at my own home house, all of my neighbours had decked out the terrace in red and white. It was lashing rain, they had stayed there for two hours, waiting for us to come home.
“It was so lovely to bring the cup back there. Then to go to the club to the reception - I will never forget it. Surreal I would say, we had an unbelievable night in Vincent's.”
Trying to help inspire the next generation is something O’Connor is ready, willing, and able to embrace. “I do think it is important, especially coming from the area I come from,” she replies.
“We are a very small club, we struggle at times to field teams at different age groups. Some years we don't have certain teams at certain age groups, which is a huge shame. So it is nice to do something like that for your club, to bring back a senior All-Ireland as a captain.
“I was looking down at the crowd that night at young girls, who are only 10 or nine, they don't realise right now the significance of that.
“In years to come I just want them to know that it is possible to do things like this even though you are from right now what is a junior club, a club that, at times, is struggling to field different teams.”
Denise O’Sullivan’s exploits with the Republic of Ireland Women’s team at the World Cup illustrate what can be achieved when combining talent and sheer hard work.
Amy O'Connor captained Cork to 2023 All-Ireland Camogie glory at Croke Park. Photo by Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
“It is important for people to be able to see that,” O’Connor adds. “In our area we've had a very good few weeks. We had Denise O'Sullivan at the World Cup, she is from only a couple of minutes from where I live.
“It is really nice for young people in our area, not just young girls, but young boys, to see what is possible if you put your mind to it.”
O’Connor remained in the zone for the duration of the national decider against Waterford. “Definitely, that was the focus for the entire game,” she responds.
“It went very well for us because we had put in such work throughout the year.
“While, at times, people criticised us and at times things weren't going so well on the pitch, the level of effort and work we put in, it really showed and was displayed on the day of the All-Ireland Final.
“That is exactly what you want. Sometimes you work all year and the performance just doesn't come. We were probably promising that performance for a long time and maybe building towards that performance, I would say.”
Dealing with setbacks and demonstrating resilience has been part of the Cork Camogie story recently. So to win the 2023 All-Ireland by beating Kilkenny, Galway, and Waterford in the knockout stages was particularly impressive.
“It was lovely to do it in the way that we did it, beating the top two teams in the country for the last two, three or four years - even decade I would say,” O’Connor remarks.
“Then putting in a performance in the All-Ireland Final, because that is when you want to perform. There is huge resilience in our group, it is a very special group, that has taken a long time to build. An unbelievable group with unbelievable characters, it is just very, very special.”