AMY O’CONNOR admitted it was a sweet feeling to enter the zone on All-Ireland camogie final day and find the scores came so easily.
The Cork captain hit a stunning hat-trick of goals to help secure a 29th senior camogie title for her county and a first since 2018.
From 10 scoring opportunities, the experienced attacker plundered a remarkable 3-7, a haul that comprised three goals from play between the 33rd and 35th minutes, four points from frees, one from a ’45 and and two more points from play.
O’Connor said the real irony of her landmark performance was that she could hardly convert a free in training just yesterday.
“I actually went practising frees yesterday, I don’t think one went over the bar,” smiled O’Connor. “I thought they were going to kill me! I suppose you do have days where everything you hit goes over and it’s nice to have those days because they don’t come around too often. Yeah, I suppose when you hit the sliotar, it’s a different feeling on the bas of the hurley, so it was nice to get one of those days today.”
The St Vincents attacker, also a talented soccer player, spoke of her pride at performing to such a level on the biggest day in the camogie calendar.
“A very proud day for me obviously,” she said. “I come from quite a small junior club on the northside of the city. We haven’t had too much success at club level.
“So it is nice to be able to do something like this and to represent the club and the area. I didn’t realise I had scored a hat-trick until someone said it after the match, which is probably a good thing because we were just so focused on the next ball, the next pass, whatever it might be.
“That might sound cliched but that’s the way we drove it for the last three, four months. It was a building process, everything was a process. We played a certain way. We were adaptable the whole time and our focus was always on the next thing, the next thing.
“So I didn’t really think too much about it in the game, what I’d scored. It’s obviously nice. It is probably something that you wouldn’t dream of really.”
It was a rude awakening for Waterford regarding life at the very top level of the game. They’d beaten Cork in the Munster championship but found it an altogether different experience facing their neighbours on All-Ireland final day.
O’Connor was surprised that people presumed Cork were struggling mid-way through the season when they lost to Galway three times and Waterford also.
“To be honest, while people were saying we went through a bad patch, there was only once or twice that we actually played poorly,” she said. “We actually performed quite well throughout that bad patch. I think the most important thing was that we stuck together as a group.”
After coming up a point short of Kilkenny in a dramatic finale last year, it was redemption of sorts for Cork manager Matthew Twomey and his players.
“Myself and Laura Tracey were sitting here last year after losing it and I suppose we were drained and we couldn’t see how we would get over the line,” said Twomey. “When we came back this year, we decided a focus obviously was to win the All-Ireland. We went through a bad patch in the middle of the year and I suppose a lot of people wrote us off.
“In our own way, we used that as a spur. After we got beaten by Galway in Athenry, we had a real long chat with ourselves. We were going into the Down game under pressure, the Clare game under pressure and every game really we have been under ferocious pressure. Even today we were under fierce pressure coming up.
“These players are just incredible, the more their backs are to the wall, the better they got. What we got today, they totally deserve. They have just been immense.”
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As much as I want England to win the World Cup and Erasmus to lose it, I’d absolutely love if Jones walked away with a World Cup winners medal. I know he had an offer on the table from munster and he turned it down but I can’t help but feeling he’s a loss to Irish rugby and that the IRFU and munster should have done more to keep him involved, even if it wasn’t with Munster.
@Jim Demps: really. Surprised.
Dont want to bad mouth the man, he was a great player. But tbought, he was a very poor attack coach. Herd from a source in the camp, that the players were getting depressed with the lack of invention in regards to attack play.
Do wish him well tho
@Paddy Waggon: era he’s only 32 as well, if we want to be developing Irish coaches then we need to give them a chance.
@Jim Demps: It was probably the best time for him personally to get away given he’s not tied down with family yet so the world is his oyster and a change of scenery is probably needed given how much of a target he became for the keyboard warriors. He’ll have no trouble finding himself work and there’s no way that’s the last of him coaching within the IRFU.
@Eddie Hekenui: yeah I’d hope he’ll come back in alright. As it stands there aren’t a whole pile of Irish lads in front line roles, Carolan and Duffy in connacht, Leo Cullen and Jared Payne would be about it. It’d be nice to see a few lads progress a bit and have a few more Irish lads ready to take on big roles. Rog, Davidson, Kidney, McCall are all top class coaches and the IRFU should be trying to get them employed at home.
@Jim Demps: I don’t see the need to have them all employed in Ireland. That just creates a closed loop. Far better to have them start off here, earn their spurs and then head off to wherever they can get jobs to experience different ideas, experiences and cultures. Then they can take all that knowledge and bring it back to Ireland. Them moving on also clears space for another young coach or two to move up the ladder.
@Jim Demps: Hugh Hogan is doing a good job at Leinster. He gained most of his knowledge in the AIL, good to see coaches from that level stepping up. Can see him continuing to progress.
@Eddie Hekenui: yeah that’s fair enough but the Irfu haven’t seemed too interested in bringing lads back yet. Of the last few high profile jobs in the country I’d love to have seen how many of the Irish lads I mentioned were spoken to by the IRFU. Conor o Shea is another guy who would have been a huge addition.
@Jim Demps: Well I think they have had their chance a few times with O’Shea, he took up a job with the RFU now so that’s him lost for a few more years. I’d really like to see him in the IRFU Management side of things rather than coaching, he does a good job on the field but I think he’s strategically better than most people think and his role with the Olympic Team GB prior to London shouldn’t be overlooked either. Is there an Australian out of contract in two years which Conor might be good at???
@ThatLJD: I think that’s be the ideal situation, having o shea in for nucifora. Conor has shown time and time again that he’s one of the best rugby administrators out there and it’d be great to have him running the show.
@Eddie Hekenui: yep. Rog gaining massive experience
@Jim Demps: I heard from a source? Yeah right
@Chris Tobin: fellas get too excited on here when they see me comment. Don’t even have to say anything anymore to trigger lads
@Chris Tobin: yeah, I’d also question the insistsnce that players became depressed by tactics. It should have told the commenter all they needed to know about their source.
@Eddie Hekenui: married, mortgage and 2 young kids. That’s about as tied down as you can get.
@Joe O’Doherty: Not really. Much harder to move when kids are older and you’re thinking about schools etc. You never hear coaches talk about mortgages etc when it comes to jobs but you hear them talking about their kids all the time.
Delighted for Felix. Contributed so much to Munster. He will be the first Irish man to win a rugby World Cup medal. Will it be gold or silver?
@Ivan O’Riordan: Kyran Bracken in 2003
@Eoin Jaypee: Wouldn’t be calling Bracken an Irishman. Lived his whole life in England.
@Eoin Jaypee: A couple of other candidates
Stephen Moore – Silver in 2015 – has strong Irish connections
Two Irish parents. Lived in Tuam for 5 years. Not born in Australia (not here either though).
John Gallagher from the 87 NZ team was similar and won the tournament. Born to two Irish parents in London before they emigrated to NZ, but I don’t think he ever lived in Ireland
@Chris Mansfield: Gallagher played for Ireland a back in the day too
@Chris Mansfield: Father from that great rugby stronghold ….Limerick City!!
@Ardmore02: and yet the Duke of Wellington can be considered Irish too. Different countries have different rules.
All his famous attacking expertise was really on display last Sunday.
@KH: Obviously worked better than Schmidt’s !!
@KH: Not Jones gig as he’s not the attack coach.
@KH: so quick to throw in a negative comment that you forgot what his role is.
@KH: made a right fool of yourself there kid
@Timmy O’Toole:
Dont worry @KH just look at the posters that are hitting at you .
@Martin Quinn:
He is a good guy, talked to him when he was up in Leinster and him and some other coaches dropped over to our club:: Down to earth and knew his stuff !!! Very happy for him as this could be a good thing to have on your CV.
As stolen from the internet….the moment you realise Matt Damon has won more world cups than Ireland.
Sad but true.
Good luck to Felix.
@Hirrison Mirk: you understand how movies work right?
@Dave O Keeffe: and France Scotland Wales and Argentina. Not just Ireland
@Dave O Keeffe: they act as a distraction from our World Cup campaign?
Absolutely delighted for Stephen Jones. I hope he gets a winner’s medal in Japan. It is fantastic that we have so many young Irish coaches going overseas to gain experience outside of the Irish model and bodes well for the future. I would love to see a structure in place that got them spending some time working in school rugby.
@Mr. Common Sense: Stephen?
@Ivan O’Riordan:
Lad read the page for God sake
FELIX JONES
Every time you want to praise England your reminded of how much of a foul, smug, little odious man Eddie Jones is.
Was going to support England, as the Northern Hemisphere team, in Saturday’s RWC final. But this bolt-from-the-blue revelation of a young Irishman, former International, being so closely involved behind the scenes with the Springboks has left one in a serious but very short-term dilemma.
Go Felix!
Hon’ the Boks!
Great experience for him.
Well deserved, especially after the way he was treated at Munster. They could regret that.
@Tom McGirr: Explain to us how he was treated at Munster please?
It’s such a shame that Felix had to retire from playing so young. He could easily be backup up to Bob until next RWC.