MÉABH Cahalane reckons that just two of the current Cork senior camogie squad have won national league medals. She hopes that number swells dramatically this Sunday afternoon.
You have to go back to 2013 for Cork’s last Division 1 league title, but the Rebels’ class of 2025 has the chance to end this wait when they take on Galway in the Very National League Division 1A final at Semple Stadium, Thurles (2.15pm throw-in).
‘I think it’s only the two Mackeys in our group who have a league medal,’ Cork captain Cahalane told The Southern Star.
‘Even though you can look around the dressing room and see so many players who have won so many awards and medals, one thing a lot of us have in common is that we don’t have a league medal. That’s something to go after as well.
‘After this weekend there is a bit of a dip before the All-Ireland championship kicks in, so we know this is a big game for us, as well as the Munster championship games, before the All-Ireland starts.’
Cahalane and Co are no strangers to success. As back-to-back All-Ireland champions Cork are the undisputed number one right now and their league form has backed this up. Wins against Waterford (2-10 to 0-8), Dublin (0-20 to 0-10), Kilkenny (3-17 to 0-13) and Tipperary (1-12 to 0-7) saw Ger Manley’s team book their league final spot with one game to spare. That final group stage game saw Cork suffer a first league loss, 0-19 to 0-13 at home to a Galway side they’ll face again in the league final.
While the All-Ireland is a bigger prize, Cork are focused on the here and now – and they want a league title, and some revenge for the bad day at the office against Galway.
‘When you get to a league final you want to win it,’ Cahalane stressed.
‘We also know that we want to peak for the business end of the year. It’s the league final first, and as well as winning it we weren't happy with our performance against Galway a few weeks ago so that is something we want to address. Getting a result against Galway would be important for us at this time of the year.
‘We have got a lot out of the league. At the start, one of our objectives was to go as far as we could in the league, and now we are in the final so we have to be happy with where we are.’
The platform for Cork’s impressive league is linked to many factors, including their defence that has yet to concede a goal. They have the best defensive record in the division, and had conceded an average of 0-10 per game before the loss to Galway; the context here being that game mattered little to the Rebels.
‘It (not conceding a goal) is something that was picked up on after the Tipp game. I know the Galway game was disappointing, but we still didn’t concede a goal,’ Cahalane said.
‘Amy Lee in goal and all our defenders work so hard, and you have the work-rate around our middle third and with our forwards is huge. No-one can come out with the ball easily against us, our defence starts up at number 15. It’s helping us at the back because we know if we don’t concede a goal that we have the forwards who can score goals.’
Scoring more (6-72 v 2-76) than Galway and conceding less (0-57 v 3-60) this season, all signs point to a Cork win on Sunday, and for Cahalane the chance to lift silverware as captain.
