Keating: Rebels ready to build on All-Ireland camogie final triumph

FIONA Keating is hopeful that Cork’s All-Ireland senior camogie triumph will spark a period of success for the Rebels.

Prior to August’s 5-13 to 0-9 hammering of Waterford in the final, Cork hadn’t won the O’Duffy Cup since 2018 – and that was considered a lean period for the game’s most successful powerhouse.

Normal service was resumed this season as the Rebels hit top spot, and Courcey Rovers star Keating, who scored a goal in the final, believes this could act as a catalyst for more glory days in the years ahead.

‘Definitely, 100 percent,’ Keating tells The Southern Star. ‘We have the minors winning All-Irelands so the talent is there coming up, like Aoife Healy coming onto the team this year and playing such a crucial role; that highlights the quality of players coming up. Look at Millie Condon from Ballinascarthy, she is another one on the way up.’

The Rebels have won four of the last five All-Ireland minor titles so the talent is there, and there is a pathway through to the senior set-up.

Now players like Keating (21) have won an All-Ireland senior title, too, and that’s important: they know what it takes to win the big prize. Add in the experienced group of captain Amy O’Connor, Libby Coppinger, Laura Treacy, Hannah Looney, the Mackey sisters, Ashling Thompson, Orla Cronin, then the mix in the group offers encouragement for the seasons ahead.

‘I remember chatting to Amy O’Connor at the start of the year about how none of the players of my age had walked up the Hogan Stand after winning an All-Ireland, whereas she had won four All-Ireland titles before. Amy is part of a group that are used to winning them whereas for Ciara O’Sullivan, Emma Murphy and myself all the way down to Meabh Murphy, Aoife Healy, Orlaith Cahalane, it was all so new to us. So to walk up the steps and lift the cup was one of the highlights of my career, and so were the celebrations that week.’

Fiona Keating pictured with (left) Emma Murphy, Glen Rovers and Ciara O’Sullivan, Newcestown. (Photo: Martin Walsh)

Having experienced it once, Keating wants that feeling again, and what made it extra special for the All-Star nominee is that she shared the journey with her Courceys team-mate, Saoirse McCarthy.

In fact, it was McCarthy who – correctly – predicted Cork would win this year’s All-Ireland after one of the team’s lowest moments: losing in the Munster championship to Waterford in late April.

‘We did have our rocky patch in the middle of the season, including losing to Waterford in the Munster series. I remember coming home from Páirc Uí Chaoimh that evening and Saoirse turning to me in the car and saying “this will be the year that we win it”. We were just after losing in Munster, but she was adamant that we would win it and that loss was just a hiccup. I was looking at her, because there were a lot of questions that had to be answered,’ Keating says.

‘As the year went on, the momentum kept building, and to beat Kilkenny in the quarter- final and then Galway in the semi-final, that was really when we realised how much hard work we had put in and how this group was good enough. We took the hard route, beat all the big teams and that gave us the belief. You could see it in the team.’

If Cork are to win back-to-back titles in 2024 they will do so without Matthew Twomey who won’t be in the hot seat next season. Keating describes her former manager as ‘exceptional’, but the Douglas man has left Cork in a place to build on their success this season, with the Courceys contingent to play a central role.

Fiona Keating was presented with a Celtic Ross West Cork Sports Star monthly award for August in recognition of her role in the Rebels’ All- Ireland success. The West Cork Sports Star Awards are run by the Celtic Ross Hotel, The Southern Star and C103.