ANTRIM CAMOGIE FORWARD Róisín McCormick says the death of Athenry’s Kate Moran was a “very unfortunate event” and has opened up about her own experiences with accidental collisions on the pitch.

Kate Moran died after suffering injuries from an accidental clash while playing for her club in a senior league game against Ardrahan on Monday evening. She was treated at the scene before being rushed to University Hospital Galway where she was pronounced dead on Tuesday.

A candlelight vigil was held in her honour last night.

“It’s a very unfortunate event,” says McCormick. “My condolences to Kate Moran’s family, friends and obviously the communities in Galway.

“As a GAA family, we’re all mourning the death of Kate.”

McCormick has experienced two incidents of suffering injuries as a result of accidental collisions.

In 2019, she was taken to hospital after a collision while playing for Antrim, an event which left her with concussion. She had a similar experience last year in a club championship match.

McCormick says these incidents underline the importance of wearing safety gear while playing hurling or camogie.

“It does make you realise how easy something like that can happen in a match. I got a knock on the head in our club championship final last year and I was rushed to hospital afterwards.

“I came out with a broken jaw and a concussion and to be fair, when I heard about Kate, that scared me a bit because I was like, ‘Oh my God, that could have happened to me last year.’ It makes you realise how important it is to have your helmet and equipment in perfect condition because even one alteration can cause something like that.

“My heart goes out to Kate’s family and friends.

“The referees are very good at controlling any games I’ve played in and I’ve always felt safe. There has been a few bad knocks here and there but I do feel safe on the pitch.”

McCormick’s Antrim will be competing in the All-Ireland senior championship this year, after defeating Kilkenny in the All-Ireland intermediate decider last September.

They go into the competition on the back of a defeat to Wexford in the Division 2 league final, where Elaine Dowds’ side conceded three early goals which effectively ended their challenge.

This will be the first time since the 1980s that her county will be competing in the top-tier competition of the championship, and McCormick insists that camogie in Ulster counties is in a healthy place.

“A lot of excitement but also a lot of nerves. It’s completely different step up from intermediate. Intermediate is a very tough level but senior is just a different ball game.

“As soon as we won the All-Ireland last year, we went straight back to training again. We knew that we’d have to get bigger, we’d have to get stronger, faster.

“We’ve been upping the sessions. We’re going to the gym a lot more now. There are heavy running sessions all the time. We just completely stepped up our game this year.

“Down are competing in the All-Ireland senior championship and they stayed up last year. Derry have brought in a lot of new players and they’re a lot stronger. They’re bidding for this extra championship against us. Word has it that they’re going to give Down a good run this weekend in the semi-finals.

“Ulster camogie is definitely improving and there’s a lot more focus being put into it now. People need to realise that Ulster camogie is at a good standard.”

Róisín McCormick was speaking at the launch of the 2022 Kellogg’s GAA Cúl Camp

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