FORMER ALL-STAR and Kilkenny defender Collette Dormer has backed the idea of holding double-headers with their male counterparts, describing the added exposure as a ‘huge benefit’ to the sport.
The corner-back is in her 12th season at the highest level and has played in several games in recent years that have served as curtain-raisers for the Kilkenny hurling side.
Dormer and Kilkenny come into this year’s Championship off the back of an impressive league campaign that saw the Cats claim a third league crown in as many years after a 0-15 to 1-11 win over Cork in Nowlan Park in the April final.
Dormer is also ready to put the All-Ireland disappointment behind her. A late Julia White point saw Cork take the O’Duffy Cup from the Cats back in September.
Speaking at the launch of the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Camogie Championships, Dormer feels that pairing camogie games alongside hurling can help expose the sport to a larger audience.
“I’d be for that. Any time you can get camogie highlighted on the big stage is a huge benefit to every camogie player because the younger generation is looking at players playing camogie,” she says. “More people can actually watch the game and see how good of a sport it is.
“It’s a lot faster, it’s a lot more free-flowing and the ball is moved a lot faster now. The sport itself has just improved hugely in the last few years.
“We’ve been lucky enough that we’ve had a good few double-headers with the (senior men’s) hurling. The league final there and last year we had I think the league final and the All-Ireland semi-finals in the last couple of years.
“Even when you look back at it two years ago, you had the Kilkenny crowd. (The league hurling) semi-final was after our (league) semi-final and every girl can say: the crowd got in and were behind us for the last 20 minutes,”
“It would drive the girls on,” Dormer said.
Dormer feels that there is an added desire amongst her team-mates this year to reclaim their 2016 All-Ireland crown, preparation has gone to plan and she looks to end the year on the right note.
“Last year, it was a huge hurt but there’s no more hunger (than usual). You go out with the same hunger every year. There’s probably a bit more bite to hopefully get back to Croke Park and get back to the first weekend in September.
“When you come back from defeat like last year in September, you kind of come back with motivation and you do want your year to end like it did last year,” she said.
“The team is preparing really well now and we’re training hard. We just finished up the Leinster championship there on Saturday. We had a few tough matches in that championship that prepared us nicely leading into the championship.
Kilkenny open their championship campaign with a trip to Limerick on 9 June.
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Dual Players, make 2 all Irelands, sounds to me like the experiment is a resounding success?
Dual players has been going on at minor level for years, it just so happens this year both teams were successful and went all the way to the final, which i would say was helped by a momentum gained from having dual players.
They were both successful in reaching the final and minor has 2 purposes, yes winning is one ,preparing seniors is another and having experience in a final will surely help .
Also why have so many only have those that will figure on team or used subs , have only hurlers after that this will reduce disturbance of squad.
Ger Loughlane point is much more important, with the size of the “home of hurling” and the amount of clubs not promoting football , why are these clubs not able to supply a minor team with only a few gems making the cross over.
Is the dual player an effort to promote hurling or demote football, Mr McKeever did not have to raid the issue the week of the final,
What Liam is actually saying is that the players are good enough there but with all the commitments they have at that age that it’s impossible to get a full panel together for enough sessions to understand how their teammates play, the more they play together the better they work as a unit, but they are missing that time to get the best out of the unit and that’s possibly why they fell at the final hurdle as it was impossible to get the right preparation done for it, it’s the age old saying “fail to prepare, prepare to fail”, it’s not the players fault, not the managements fault or the county boards fault, it’s the results of having a good underage structure, it certainly has to be looked at but it’s certainly a good complaint to have, I’d much prefer it than to been mediocre at one and non existent at the other
I’m saying it ages! Make a choice u either play hurling or football
making two All Irelands and winning none of them so where is the success there? Am I missing something!
I totally agree with Liam Cahill Tipperary is a hurling county always was and always will be
no point in sending a football team out against Kerry or Dublin and getting whipped by 20 points and being a laughing stock and then being too tired and lethargic to compete in the minor hurling final which is our priority sport
the County Board needs to have a good look at itself and decide if it wants Tipperary to win hurling All Irelands again or not
Bloody hell yet have more football all Ireland’s than Mayo! :(
I m fully behind the dual mandate. Well.done to tipp. Why make an 18 yr old choose for the sake of a medal? How is loosing a final, a single game, hindering their development? Wonderful achievement getting to both. Would they have won either if they had concentrated on one code? I dont think so.