DUAL STAR HANNAH Looney has returned to the Cork camogie fold after a stint in New York.
The 2021 camogie and ladies football All-Star featured for Matthew Twomey’s Rebels yesterday, wearing the number 30 jersey in their 2-10 to 0-9 win over Dublin.
She was also on the bench for last week’s victory over Clare. Cork hold a 100% record thus far in the 2022 All-Ireland senior championship, having also defeated Wexford on opening day.
Looney, a nominee for the 2021 Camogie Player of the Year award after the Leesiders’ run to the All-Ireland final, arrived home from the US recently. She had moved to New York for work purposes shortly after the conclusion of the 2021 inter-county season.
Twomey confirmed last month that Looney was due to return to his set-up.
“Since I took the job on, I have been in regular contact with Hannah,” he told The Irish Examiner.
“At the moment now, we are talking almost every day and getting ready for her return. She has been training away over there and we have been sending her over a program for the last couple of months. She’s been very diligent, in fairness.
“A player like her, but more importantly a personality like her, she’d be huge coming back in. She is back next week and will be straight into the mix.”
Teams line out as follows for the Glen Dimplex Senior Championship match, Dublin v Cork@CamogieDublin @CorkCamogie @OfficialCamogie pic.twitter.com/Oxbe7cMi3G
— Dublin Camogie (@CamogieDublin) June 4, 2022
It’s unclear whether Looney will re-join the Cork ladies football set-up. That said, a return is expected.
She has excelled for both teams through the years, balancing the two codes, and suggested in an interview with The42 last November that that would continue after her new chapter Stateside.
“At the moment, it’s very much take it as it comes and see. I’m not ruling anything in or ruling anything out,” the 24-year-old noted on her inter-county future.
“I will stay in touch with both new managements, football and camogie, both squads. I’m just trying to focus on what’s ahead of me here. I’m very proud of myself for just taking this leap. I could have just stayed at home, maybe moved to Dublin or stayed in Cork, and always wondered why or, ‘What if?’
“I’m here until the summer anyway, and we’ll see after that. If I come back, well and good. If I stay on, well and good too. There’ll still be plenty of years left of me in the Cork jersey either way, but for now, I just have to take this opportunity.”
